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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


LD 

2695  LET  GON7E  AVENUE 

PRICE,  10  CENT£"<;RKELEY  CALIFORNIA 


Extracts  from  Newspapers, 


EXPLANATORY   OF   THE 


Credit  Fonder  Company 


COMPILED    BY 


ALBERT  K.  OWEN, 


NEW  YORK : 

Published  by  THE  CREDIT  FONCIER  Co., 
Room  708,  32  Nassau  St. 


L. 

Newspaper  Articles 


RELATING  TO  THE 


CREDIT  FOGGIER 
COMPANY. 


Nothing  is  so  contagious  as  example  ;  we  never  do  either 
inucli  good  or  much  evil,  without  Imitators. 


YORK  : 
THE  CREDIT  FONCIER  COMPANY, 

32  NASSAU  STREET. 


.r  7/3 


is* 


Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 

Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time ; 
Footprints  that  perhaps  another, 

Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main, 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother 

Seeing  may  take  heart  again. 

— Longfellow, 

ALBERT  K.  OWEN  salutes  the  friends  of  the  Credit  Foncier 
Company,  and  wishes  to  say  that  these  selections  from  the  news- 
papers of  the  United  States  are  published  in  circular  to  show 
the  interest  which  is  now  being  taken  in  our  purpose  to  plant 
a  co-operative  community  in  Sinaloa,  Mexico. 

The  statements  made  are  generally  correct,  but  must  not  be 
taker!  as  altogether  so ;  we  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  alter  what 
others  have  published.  In  fact,  there  are  only  two  of  the  selec- 
tions, that  of  Mr.  W.  N.  Slocum,  page  39,  and  that  written  for 
The  Railway  Age,  page  10,  which  are  intended  to  give  exact 
information  upon  the  details  of  the  enterprise. 

There  will  be,  doubtless,  many  criticisms  upon  our  movings 
to  and  doings  in  Mexico ;  but  work,  time  and  patience  will 
show,  we  believe,  that  our  plans  have  been  started  upon  a  firm, 
broad  and  lasting  basis.  We  have  not  courted  newspaper  com- 
ment, and  we  are  not  'in  a  hurry  to  be  held  up  to  public  gaze  j 
nor  are  we  anxious  to  swell  the  number  of  our  settlers  in  Sinaloa. 
We  do  wish,  however,  that  earnest  men  and  women  may  come 
to  a  knowledge  of  our  principles ;  and  that  they  may  see  it  to 
be  to  their  interests  to  unite  their  lives  and  fortunes  with  us 
at  the  time,  at  the  place,  and  in  the  manner  their  crafts  and 
presence  are  required.  We  believe  that,  "In  all  labor  there  is 
profit'  (Prov.  xiv.  23),  and  we  wish  ever  to  obey  the  command : 
"Whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatso- 
ever things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  *  *  think  on 
those  things"  (Phil.  iv.  8). 

Room  708,  32  Nassau  St., 
NEW  YORK  CITY,  January  25,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


A  NEW  AND  STRANGE  YANKEE  COLONY  IN  MEXICO. 

N.   Y.  Sun.  5 

THE  CREDIT  FONCIER  COMPANY — RANDOM  NOTES  OF  ITS 

ORIGIN,  ETC.  By  A.  K.  Owen.  Denver  Tribune- Republican.  10 

A  DREAM  OF  HEAVEN  BELOW.      .      .      .     N.  Y.  Tribune.  19 

SOCIALISM  IN  ACTION.    By  Edward  Howland. 

John  Swinton's  Paper.  25 

THE  JOYS  OF  TOPOLOBAMPO.     By  Dr.  S.  T.  Peet. 

Denver  Tribune-Republican.  27 

SENDING  BACK  GREETINGS 31 

A  PACIFIC  CITY N.  T.  Herald.  32 

A  GLIMPSE  OF  PARADISE.    By  E.  D.  Babbitt,  M.  D. 

Spiritual  Offering.  33 

THE  SINALOA  CO-OPERATIVE  SCHEME. 

The  Golden  Gate  (San  Francisco).  39 

MEXICAN  COLONIES San  Diego  Union.  44 

THE  TOPOLOBAMPO  COLONY.    By  A.  K.  Owen.    .  N.  Y.  Sun.  46 

SINALOAN  HOSPITALITY 51 

A  MILITARY  ESCORT  FOR  OUR  COLONISTS.                           ,  52 


A  NEW  AND  STRANGE  YANKEE  COLONY 
IN  MEXICO. 


MR.  ALBERT  K.  OWEN'S  GREAT   SOCIALISTIC 
UNDERTAKING  AT  TOPOLOBAMPO. 


(From  t?ie  X.  Y.  Sun,  January  23,  1887.) 

TOPOLOBAMPO,  Jan.  5. 

Here,  at  a  point  where,  less  than  two  months  since,  the  land 
was  covered  with  chaparral  and  cactus,  is  the  beginning  of  a  col- 
ony like  unto  which  there  is  none  other,  if  the  enthusiasm  of  its 
founders  shall  be  kept  alive  and  the  principles  upon  which  it  is 
based  shall  prove  correct.  The  purpose  in  view  is  the  establish- 
ment of  an  ideal  community  with  all  the  accessories  of  an  ad- 
vanced civilization,  diversified  industries  organized  upon  a  large 
scale,  with  railroads  constructed  and  inter-State  and  foreign  com- 
merce, organized,  under  the  belief  of  those  engaged,  that  the  col- 
ony will  in  time  swell  into  the  proportions  of  a  State. 

Topolobampo  is  a  bay  in  the  state  of  Sinaloa,  in  the  Gulf  of 
California,  about  midway  between  Guaymas  on  the  north  and 
Mazatlan  on  the  south,  in  northwestern  Mexico,  being  about  two 
hundred  miles  distant  from  either  place.  The  bay  contains  over 
fifty  square  miles  of  area,  and  is  divided  into  two  sections,  the  in- 
ner of  which  is  a  capacious  harbor,  on  the  north  bank  of  which  is 
the  site  of  tne  projected  city.  Except  on  maps  of  the  most  recent 
date,  Topolobampo  Bay  is  not  shown  at  all.  For  many  years  it 
was  known  only  as  the  resort  of  smugglers.  Some  fourteen 
years  since  a  young  man  engaged  as  a  civil  engineer,  surveying 
routes  for  the  Mexican  railway  system,  discovered  the  bay,  and 
finding  there  was  a  depth  of  water  equal  to  twenty-one  feet  at  low 
tide  on  the  bar  at  the  entrance,  with  deep  water  clear  to  the  banks 
on  either  side,  he  thought  he  saw  a  situation  that  opened  up  com- 
mercial advantages  not  inferior  to  any  port  of  the  Pacific  coast  for 
general  commerce,  and  greatly  superior  advantages  for  transcon- 
tinental traffic. 

But  further  we  believe  that  the  opportunity  was  afforded  to 
build  up  a  model  colony,  based  upon  a  system  of  integral  co-opera- 
tion—a plan  of  industrial  and  social  organization  which  he  framed 
in  his  own  mind,  and  which  he  believed  would  eliminate  poverty 
and  guarantee  to  all  within  the  scope  of  its  influence  not  only  the 
means  of  self -subsistence,  but  in  the  end  give  the  opportunity  for 
the  highest  development,  moral,  intellectual  and  physical,  of 


6 

which  each  was  capable.  For  in  this  colony  the  accumulation 
of  large  estates  by  individuals  is  to  be  rendered  impossible,  and 
yet  each  and  every  one  will  have  the  advantage  of  concentrated 
wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  corporation,  and  eventually  the  State, 
which  shall  throw  its  protecting  mantle  over  all. 

Such  is  the  scheme  presented  by  Mr.  Albert  K.  Owen,  of 
Chester,  Pa.,  which  has  aroused  the  day  dreams  of  others  for  a 
realization  of  a  Utopia  on  the  western  coast  of  Mexico.  Seeing 
as  he  thought,  the  possibilities,  Mr.  Owen  began  drawing  atten- 
tion to  the  place  and  his  proposed  enterprise. 

The  commercial  advantages  w^ere  so  far  perceived  that  the 
United  States  Government,  through  his  instigation,  made  a  hydro- 
graphic  survey  of  the  harbor  and  the  approaches  to  it,  and  a  num- 
ber of  leading  men  were  induced  to  cause  surveys  to  be  made  for 
an  extensive  system  of  railways,  with  a  view  of  opening  up  trans^ 
continental  traffic.  This  being  a  part  of  Mr.  Owen's  scheme,  he 
was  able  to  obtain,  in  connection  with  the  project,  valuable  con^ 
cessions  from  the  Mexican  Government,  by  which  for  ten  years 
the  colonists  are  to  be  exempt  from  import  and  export  duties  upon 
whatever  is  necessary,  and  the  right  to  build,  within  the  same 
period,  lines  of  railroad  nearly  2,000  miles  in  length.  In  time  he 
was  able  to  arouse  an  interest  in  the  project  of  colonization. 

Among  the  few  who  were  attracted  by  it  were  Mr.  Edward 
Howland  and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Marie  Howland,  of  Hammonton,  N.  J., 
both  writers  of  very  progressive  views  on  questions  of  finance  and 
social  reorganization.  Nearly  two  years  since  they  began  the 
publication  of  a  little  paper  called  CREDIT  FONCIER  OF  SINALOA, 
which  became  the  organ  of  the  movement,  and  up  to  this  time  five 
thousand  men  and  women  have  subscribed  for  shares  in  the  enter- 
prise. In  the  meantime  a  charter  was  granted  by  the  State  of 
Colorado  to  the  Credit  Foncier  Company,  and  directors  were  duly 
elected,  and  preparations  were  made  to  break  ground  for  the 
colony  during  the  past  autumn. 

During  December  I  was  at  Guaymas  when  several  bodies  of 
colonists  arrived  from  Minnesota,  Colorado,  .Maine,  Chicago  and 
Wyoming,  with  Topolobampo  as  their  objective  point.  They 
were  about  140  in  number,  and  their  approach  had  been  an- 
nounced at  Guaymas,  which  is  the  terminal  point  of  the  Atchison, 
Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railway  system.  A  schooner  and  steamer 
were  chartered  to  convey  them  down  the  coast  to  their  destination. 
They  were  full  of  enthusiasm  and  with  bright  hopes  of  happiness 
in  their  new  horrcs  to  be  created,  and  I  asked  and  was  accorded 
the  privilege  of  accompanying  them  to  Topolobampo.  We  arrived 
at  the  bay  and  found  that  an  advance  party  of  colonists  from 
California  and  Oregon,  numbering  twenty-seven,  had  arrived  in 
the  latter  part  of  November,  and  were  in  camp  on  the  North 
shore  of  the  strait  that  connects  the  two  sections  of  the  bay. 
Others  have  arrived  since,  and  at  the  present  time  over  300  people 
are  on  the  ground,  and  to  this  number  will  be  added  100  more 
within  the  next  thirty  days,  making  400  in  all,  of  whom  seventy- 
five  are  women  and  about  the  same  number  children. 

The  ground  was  cleared  of  its  undergrowth  for  the  beginning 
of  the  settlement,  and  tents  were  pitched  for  the  accom- 


modation  of  the  colonists.  As  they  came  into  a  previous)/ 
uninhabited  country  they  had  to  bring  with  them  the  means  of 
subsistence  (except  meats,  fish,  eggs  and  tropical  fruits),  and  the 
necessary  comforts  of  domestic  life.  They  have  within  them 
many  pursuits  and  trades,  and  it  was  but  a  short  time  before  they 
were  surrounded  with  all  that  was  necessary  for  their  daily  needs. 
As  they  arrived  in  the  dry  season,  they  needed  no  shelter  from  the 
rain.  The  situation  of  the  place,  near  the  lines  of  the  tropics, 
made  out-of-door  life  more  comfortable  and  healthful  than  life 
within  doors  at  the  homes  which  they  had  left.  Large  numbers  of 
men  went  to  work  to  clear  the  way  for  the  first  section  of  the 
projected  railway  to  extend  from  the  harbor  thirty-five  miles 
north  to  the  Fuerte  River,  and  on  the  completion  and  equipment 
of  it,  within  two  years  and  a  half  from  the  present  time,  the 
colony  will  become  possessed  of  a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock 
of  the  company  to  own  it.  Others  are  preparing  to  erect  buildings 
for  permanent  abodes  and  for  public  use,  one  of  which  is  to  bo  the 
custom  house  for  the  Mexican  Government,  through  which  mer- 
chandise is  to  pass  for  the  use  of  people  without  the  colony. 
Others,  and  a  good  many  of  them,  are  breaking  ground  for  the 
sowing  of  seed  for  crops  to  be  raised  during  the  coming  season  for 
the  sustenance  of  the  people,  and  perhaps  to  sell  outside. 

No  more  desirable  situation  could  be  found  for  the  beginning 
of  the  enterprise.  There  is  but  little  variation  in  the  temperature 
throughout  the  year.  The  range  of  the  mercury  in  the  shade  at 
noon  in  summer  is  86°,  and  in  the  winter  52°.  At  night  cool  breezes 

Srevail,  which  enable  one  to  sleep  with  comfort.  The  harbor  will 
oat  vessels  of  the  greatest  depth.  Edible  fish  abound  in  the 
waters,  green  turtles  and  their  eggs  invite  the  epicure  to  feast  upon 
them,  and  I  am  told  that  the  best  quality  of  oysters  is  to  be  found 
in  large  quantities  but  a  few  miles  distant  in  other  waters.  The 
soil  is  a  dark,  vegetable  mould,  capable  of  growing  the  cereals  and 
fruits  of  the  temperate  zone,  as  well  as  products  of  a  semi-tropical 
character. 

But  something  must  be  said  in  reference  to  the  plans  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  colony  and  its  people.  It  is  incorporated,  as  I 
have  said,  under  the  laws  of  Colorado.  It  has  become  possessed 
of  the  site  for  the  city,  containing  about  thirty  square  miles  on  the 
inner  harbor,  and  of  a  large  tract  of  farming  land  adjacent  con- 
taining about  36,000  acres.  The  city  is  laid  out  in  lots  25x100  feet, 
contained  in  blocks  600  feet^long  by  300  feet  wide.  Avenues  of 
200  feet  in  width,  streets  of  100  feet,  and  ways  of  50  feet  intersect 
one  another  at  right  angles,  while  running  diagonally,  at  an  angle 
of  45  degrees,  in  each  direction  across  the  city  plot,  are  to  be  the 
wide  avenues  called  "praclas,"  to  facilitate  movement  from  one 
part  of  the  city  to  the  other.  The  city  looks  lovely  on  the  map. 

Each  colonist  must  be  a  subscriber  for  at  least  one  share  of  the 
stock  of  the  company,  the  value  of  which  is  $10,  and  for  which  he 
is  entitled,  on  the  payment  of  an  additional  $10,  to  become  pos- 
sessed of  one  of  the  first  series  of  lots,  not,  however,  in  fee  simple, 
but  the  use  of  it  in  perpetuity  and  by  his  children  after  him. 
Dwellings  will  be  built  upon  the  lots  by  the  corporation  in  accord- 
ance with  the  wishes  of  the  party  holding  the  lot.  Neither  lot  nor 


8 

improvement  can  be  sold  to  another,  but  will  be  taken  off  the  own- 
er's hands  at  any  time  at  their  actual  cost  by  the  corporation  itself. 
Land  speculation  will  not  be  permitted  and  land  monopoly  can 
never  exist.  No  colonist  can  employ  another.  Each  works  for 
the  company  alone,  fie  fixes  the  price  for  his  labor,  which,  if 
satisfactory  to  the  corporation,  they  pay  him.  The  products  of 
labor  are  deposited  in  the  storehouse  of  the  company  and  sold  by 
them  to  colonists  at  their  actual  cost,  including  the  cost  of  hand- 
ling. The  corporation  is  the  only  merchant.  In  selling  to  the  out- 
side world  the  prices  are  regulated  by  the  state  of  the  general 
market.  Whatever  profits  are  made  upon  a  commodity  sold  goes 
to  the  producer.  Women  are  to  be  employed  in  all  light  pursuits 
for  which  they  have  a  taste.  Especially  the  effecting  of  exchanges 
in  the  storehouse  will  be  mainly  done  by  them.  So  far  as  practi- 
cable the  pay  of  the  workers  will  be  by  the  piece,  as  being  the 
most  equitable  method  of  compensation.  But  at  present,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  community,  each  is  paid  by  the  day,  men  and 
women  alike  receiving  a  daity  wage  of  $3.  They  are  paid  in  the 
credits  of  the  company,  that  is  to  say,  each  is  credited  with  the 
amount  of  his  services,  and  will  be  furnished  with  house,  furni- 
ture, food,  clothing,  and  whatever  is  possessed  or  obtainable  by 
the  company  to  the  extent  of  the  amount  of  his  credit,  and  if  a~ 
balance  remains  he  can  draw  the  value  in  money  or  in  any  form 
desired.  The  buildings  will  be  of  all  classes,  above  a  minimum 
class  suggested  by  the  company.  A  resident  hotel  is  to  be  erected 
at  an  early  day,  at  which  colonists  or  visitors  can  live.  Mr. 
Owen  prefers  extensive  apartment  houses,  occupying  an  entire 
block,  with  spacious  verandas  and  open  grounds  and  with  kitchen, 
dining  room,  nursery,  and  music  hall  separate  from  the  main 
building,  and  by  which  women  can  be  freed  from  household  cares 
and  be  enabled  to  engage  in  productive  industries.  Others,  from 
force  of  habit,  will  doubtless  prefer  separate  households  upon 
their  lots.  Still  others  favor  the  erection  of  grand  unitary  edifices 
like  the  social  palace  of  Guise,  in  France,  where  M.  Godin  has 
built  extensive  edifices,  in  which  his  workmen  and  their  families 
dwell,  numbering  nearly  2,000  people,  and  live  in  a  style  far  above 
others  in  their  walks  of  life,  with  art  galleries,  schools,  and  music 
halls. 

All  public  utilities,  street  railroads,  heating  and  lighting,  the 
telegraph  and  telephone,  messenger  service,  amusements,  and  nur- 
series are  to  be  provided  by  the  company.  Physicians  and  law- 
yers will  be  employed  on  salaries.  Church  organizations  and 
secret  societies  will  not  be  permitted  within  the  limits  of  the  do- 
main of  the  corporation.  The  utmost  freedom  of  worship  is  al- 
lowed among  families,  but  no  combination  of  individuals  will  be 
allowed  to  establish  a  sect. 

The  use  of  tobacco  is  discouraged.  Public  saloons  for  the  sale 
of  wines  and  liquors  will  not  be  permitted.  They  can  be  pur- 
chased 'only  at  the  storehouse  of  the  company,  and  then  under 
wise  restrictions.  Earth  closets  are  to  supersede  water  closets,  and 
the  excretee  saved  for  fertilization,  and  not  to  pollute  the  adjacent 
waters  by  ordinary  sewer  drainage. 

The  affairs  of  the  company  are  managed  by  ten  directors  elected 


by  the  shareholders,  each  having  a  vote  for  every  share  he  holds. 
The  canvass  for  the  election  of  directors  is  to  be  conducted  with- 
out the  machinery  of  public  elections,  where  eloquence  and  specious 
argument  can  sway  the  feelings  of  the  listener.  Matters  of  pub- 
lic interest  will  be  discussed  in  the  columns  of  a  journal  printed 
under  the  auspices  of  the  corporation. 

A  word  as  to  the  character  of  the  colonists.  The  great  portion 
are  young  men  and  women  under  forty.  Now  and  then  a  patri- 
archal face  is  to  be  seen,  but  a  marked  feature  of  all  is  the  evi- 
dence of  intelligence  and  deep  thought.  They  seem  to  be  practical 
in  their  ideas.  Thus  far  no  cranks  have  shown  themselves  among 
them.  Strong  common  sense  is  a  prominent  characteristic.  Many 
are  persons  of  superior  education  and  who  have  been  successful  in 
the  homes  they  have  left,  but  who  have  become  identified  with 
the  movement  because  of  the  opportunities  it  seems  to  them  to  af- 
ford for  a  more  harmonious  and  pleasant  social  life. 

It  is  useless  to  prognosticate  tiie  result  of  the  experiment.  At 
this  time  varied  industries  for  a  self-sustaining  community  are  im- 
possible. The  colonists  have  neither  the  capital  to  erect  the  neces- 
sary buildings  nor  to  purchase  the  machinery,  nor  have  they  num- 
bers on  the  ground.  It  will  probably  be  many  years  before  they 
can  establish  all  the  industries  necessary  to  supply  all  the  products 
for  their  use  without  depending  to  some  extent  upon  the  outside 
world.  But  they  are  happy  and  not  only  hopeful,  but  even  confident 
that  each  month  will  work  favorable  changes,  and  that,  within  a 
year,  everything  will  be  organized  upon  a  permanent  plan  that 
will  present  advantages  over  the  organization  of  society  as  it  now 
exists. 

The  present  question  seems  to  be  not  how  to  gain  a  rapid  in- 
crease of  the  colonists,  but  how  to  prevent  it.  The  efforts  of  Mr. 
Owen,  who  is  the  leading  spirit,  are  to  keep  the  growth  within  the 
limits  at  which  sustenance,  comfort  and  employment  are  practi- 
cable. There  are  probably  3,000  others  ready  to  start  for  the  col- 
ony when  the  word  shall  be  given. 

A  few  days  ago  Christmas  was  celebrated  with  delightful  fes- 
tivities. It  was  made  a  general  holiday.  The  Christmas  feast  had 
the  adjuncts  of  pudding  and  fruit  cake,  with  oranges  and  lemon- 
ade. In  the  afternoon  the  Stanley  family  from  Oregon,  who  were 
among  the  earliest  colonists,  and  have  a  band  of  eleven  pieces 
among  themselves,  discoursed  excellent  music  under  the  shade  of 
a  huge  cactus,  on  what  has  already  been  christened  the  "Plaza." 
A  Christmas  celebration  in  summer  weather,  with  the  mercury  at 
70,  was  a  novelty  to  me.  A  few  days  previously,  in  the  only 
building  then  erected,  on  "Engineer  Hill,"  there  was  a  fancy 
dress  ball  in  blankets,  taking  the  hint  from  the  Mexicans,  who  at 
night  wrap  their  blankets  about  them  for  comfort,  and  the  young 
people  danced  into  the  small  hours  of  the  morning. 

But  all  has  not  been  joyous  here  in  the  short  life  of  the  little 
colony.  On  the  21st  of  December  a  little  son  of  one  of  the  colonists 
died  and  in  the  afternoon  was  laid  to  rest.  It  was  a  gloomy  day, 
but  outside  from  that  pathetic  episode  and  a  light  epidemic  of 
measles  the  people  seemed  to  have  regarded  their  experience  as  a 
prolonged  picnic  even  in  the  midst  of  their  labors,  and  yet  each 


10 

day  there  have  been  discomforts  endured.  There  is  no  flagging  in 
enthusiasm.  They  seem  bent  upon  the  successful  issue  of  The  en- 
terprise, but  they  are  more  sanguine  of  the  kindly  feelings  -of  the 
Mexicans  and  the  integrity  and  permanency  of  the  Mexican  Gov- 
ernment than  we  are  accustomed  to  have  in  the  United  States, 
even  though  Mexico  has  been  at  peace  within,  herself  for  a  consid- 
erable period.  It  may  be  that  the  colonists  have  the  best  of  reasons 
for  the  faith  that  is  within  them,  and  that  they  will  inaugurate 
the  social  millenium.  I  have  had  a  most  delightful  experience  in 
the  primitive  life  here,  and  so  long  as  I  am  within  their  influence 
I  feel  as  if  I  was  one  of  them,  with  now  and  then  a  misgiving. 
Within  a  few  days  I  will  take  my  departure,  and  when  I  reach  my 
usual  surroundings  I  may  conclude  that  after  all  they  are  delight- 
ful enthusiasts  who  may  for  a  brief  period  live  in  a  hopeful  dream 
of  an  earthly  paradise,  only  to  be  disappointed  as  thousands  have 
been  who  have  co-operated  in  experiments  of  a  kindred  nature  in 
years  gone  by. 


THE  CREDIT  FONCIER  COMPANY. 


RANDOM    NOTES     OF    ITS    ORIGIN,    GROWTH    AND 
PROSPECTS,   ETC. 


BY  ALBERT  K.  OWEN. 

372  AKAF 
DENVER,  Colorado,  October  30,  1S86. 


3T2  AKAPAHOE  STREET,  V 


To  the,  Tribune-Republican: 

The  articles  that  you  have  published  in  The  Tribune-Republican 
at  various  times  in  regard  to  the  Credit  Foncier  Company 
have  awakened  a  great  amount  of  interest  in  one  of  the  grandest 
enterprises  that  was  ever  inaugurated  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  industrial  classes.  In  the  articles  referred  to  nothing  was 
attempted  further  than  to  set  forth  as  briefly  as  possible  a  few  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  organization.  In  order  to 
satisfy  the  demand  for  information  on  this  subject  I  herewith 
submit  a  copy  of  an  article  written  for  the  Railway  Age  by  Albert 
K.  Owen,  the  leader  of  the  colony,  en  route  from  New  York  to 
Guaymas. 

It  is  accompanied  with  a  letter  of  welcome  to  Mr.  Owen  and 
the  colony  from  the  Governor  of  Sonora,  Mexico.  I  commend 
these  to  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  all  who  wish  to  be  well- 
informed  in  regard  to  the  American  colony  that  is  soon  to  locate 
at  Topolobampo  Bay  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  in  a  delightful 
semi-tropical  climate,  and  on  the  finest  natural  harbor  on  the 
coast  of  Mexico,  if  not  the  finest  in  America.  Respectfully, 

S.  T.  FEET. 


11 

The  Credit  Fonder  Company  was  incorporated  under  the  laws 
of  Colorado  in  September,  1886,  and  is  an  organization  of  men 
and  women  who  have  associated  their  lives,  labors,  crafts,  talents 
and  credits  to  secure  for  themselves  and  their  children  regular  and 
agreeable  employments,  wholesome  food,  cleanly  and  attractive 
surroundings,  improved  facilities,  correct  instructions,  cultured 
entertainments,  kindness  in  sickness,  attentions  in  old  age  and  in- 
surance at  all  times,  in  every  place  and  against  any  class  of  acci- 
dents. 

The  suggestion  for  this  association  was  made  in  the  Integral 
Co-operation,  published  by  John  W.  Lovell  &  Co.,  16  Vesey  street, 
New  York  City,  and  has  been  explained  and  propagated  by  means 
of  a  little  paper,  The  Credit  Fonder  of  Sinaloa,  issued  weekly  by 
Marie  and  Edward  Howland,  from  Hammonton,  Atlantic  County, 
New  Jersey.  Integral  Co-operation  has  passed  through  three 
editions,  and  The  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa  has  issued  to  October 
5,  1886,  sixty-five  numbers. 

The  members  of  the  association  numbered  at  that  date  4,232 
persons,  mostly  adults,  who  had  subscribed  for  15,978  shares  of  $10 
each,  and  had  pledged  to  place  with  the  Department  of  Deposits 
aad  Loans  of  the  Credit  Foncier  Company  over  $600,000  in 
United  States  money.  The  real  estate  and  personal  property 
which  have  been  offered  the  company  would,  if  properly  handled 
aad  sold,  probably  place  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  more 
to  the  said  department. 

The  members  of  the  association  are  mostly  American  born, 
well  educated,  vigorous  thinkers,  and  active,  well-to-do  people. 
They  represent  and  may  be  said  to  be  masters  of  about  two  hun- 
dred distinct  crafts,  and  can  cut  a  pearl  button,  make  a  locomotive 
engine,  and  navigate  a  ship.  There  are  nursery-men  from  Cali- 
fornia and  orange  growers  from  Florida  going  to  Topolobampo 
to  assist  in  establishing  our  enterprise;  and  we  have  stock  raisers 
from  Texas,  miners  from  Colorado,  fishermen  from  Maine,  lumber- 
men from  Oregon,  irrigating  ditch-makers  from  Greeley  and 
Fresno,  and  farmers,  artisans,  accountants,  housewives  and  sew- 
ing women  from  almost  every  State  and  Territory  in  the  Union. 
To  these  we  can  add  play-wrights,  authors,  actors,  singers  and 
musical  composers  and  instructors;  school-teachers  and  professors; 
sculptors  and  painters;  ornamental  tile  and  brick  makers;  archi- 
tects, builders  and  engineers;  the  inventors  of  an  improved  graft- 
ing machine,  of  the  Star  bicycle  and  tricycle,  of  the  Pioneer 
stump-puller,  of  the  American  rock-lifter,  of  the  Pressey  brooder, 
incubator  and  apiary,  of  the  Lightning  saw,  of  the  Boynton 
bicycle  locomotive,  of  improved  machines  for  boring  wells,  of 
agricultural  implements,  of  a  type-setting  machine,  of  a  type- 
writer, together  with  electricians,  and  fish,  vegetable  and 
fruit  canners,  and  special  cooks  for  serving  fish,  oysters  and 
turtle;  and  many  other  persons  of  marked  individuality  and  genius 
belonging  to  useful  and  progressive  callings. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  has  made  the  first  payment,  and 
now  controls  twenty-nine  (29)  square  miles  of  land  known  as  the 
site  of  "  Pacific  City,"  located  on  the  north  shore  of  Topolobampo 
Bay,  Sinaloa,  Mexico,  and  thirty-three  thousand  five  hundred 


12 

(33,500)  acres  of  agricultural  lands,  known  as  "Mochis  Ranch," 
which  is  fifteen  miles  from  their  lauding  on  the  harbor,  and  mid- 
way between  the  Eios  Fuerte  and  Sinaloa. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company,  also,  has  just  executed  a  contract 
to  build,  equip  and  operate  the  2,000  miles  of  railroad  and  tele- 
graph lines  known  as  the  franchises  granted  by  Mexico  to  the 
Texas,  Topolobampo  &  Pacific  Railroad  and  Telegraph  Company. 
The  said  company  has  three  years  to  finish  62  miles  of  track,  and 
ten  years  to  make  the  2,000  miles ;  and  it  receives  a  subsidy  of  over 
$16,000,000,  or  the  sum  of  $49,996  paid  on  the  completion  of 
each  6  2-10  miles  of  railroad.  Besides  this,  the  said  Credit  Foncier 
Company  has  contracts  to  survey  and  colonize  public  lands  on  each 
side  of  their  railroad  from  fifteen  to  thirty-seven  miles  in  width; 
to  irrigate  by  pipe  line  and  ditches  a  million  and  more  acres  in  the 
State  of  Sinaloa,  and  to  run  steamers  on  the  Gulf  of  California 
and  elsewhere. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  is  managed  by  a  board  of  ten 
Directors  and  is  authorized  to  issue  100,000  shares  (it  will  increase 
its  shares  as  it  multiplies  its  settlements)  of  $10,  and  each  share  is 
based  upon  a  building  lot  (25x150  feet)  within  the  site  of  "Pacific 
City."  While  the  first  15,000  shares  are  sold  to  persons  who  wish 
to  promote  the  objects  of  the  movement,  the  remaining  85,000 
can  be  sold  only  to  actual  settelers,  and  then  only  to  the  number 
corresponding  with  the  number  of  lots  wished  for  resident  pur- 
poses, which  in  no  case  is  to  exceed  48  lots  or  a  block  600x300  feet 
(4.13  acres).  The  possession  of  a  share  of  stock^does  not  entitle 
the  holder  to  a  lot,  but  it  gives  him  or  her  the  right  to  purchase 
the  occupancy  of  a  lot  at  the  price  of  a  series  being  sold  at  the 
time,  i.  e. ,  the  Credit  Foncier  Company  Jwlds  all  the  real  estate  in 
perpetuity,  but  sells  to  its  members  the  right  to  occupy  lots  in 
series  as  follows: 

First  series  of  500  lots  at $  10 $  5,000 

Second  series  of  500  lots  at 20 10,000 

Third  series  of  500  lots  at 40 20,000 

Fourth  series  of  500  lots  at 80 40,000 

Fifth  series  of  500  lots  at 160 80,000 

After  this  the  right  to  occupy  all  lots  will  be  sold  at  the  fixed 
price  of  $200,  it  being  more  important  to  have  the  citizens  than  ¥ 
is  to  have  the  money.  The  occupation  of  the  100,000  lots  ii\ 
Pacific  City  will  in  this  way  bring  to  the  company  $19,655,000 
United  States  money,  or  its  equivalent  in  services.  This  belongs 
to  the  common  fund  and  is  used  for  the  common  benefit  of  all  the 
citizens— part  goes  to  pay  dividends  upon  the  stock  of  the  Credit 
Foncier  Company  and  the  rest  for  planting  the  parks,  improving 
the  streets,  putting  up  and  equipping  mills,  constructing  electric 
ways,  maintaining  schools,  inaugurating  lectures,  encouraging 
musical  rehearsals,  etc. 

One  member  cannot  sell  to  another  member  or  to  anybody 
other  than  to  the  Credit  Foncier  Company,  his  or  her  stock,  right 
to  occupy  Jot  or  lots,  house,  labor  or  product;  but  the  Company  is 
at  all  times  ready  to  return  the  price  paid  for  the  right  to  occupy 
lot  or  lots,  the  cost  of  the  house,  and  to  give  full  value  for  the 


13 

labor,  product,  etc.,  of  its  members.  Hence  there  cannot  "be  spec- 
ulation in  stock  of  the  Company  or  in  the  right  to  occupy  land, 
or  in  the  home,  nor  is  there  competition  between  laborer  and 
laborer,  nor  is  the  product  pitted  against  product.  There  is,  how- 
ever, rivalry  between  laborer  and  laborer,  for  each  is  paid  for  that 
which  he  or  she  does  and  the  skill  which  he  or  she  shows  in  doing 
it;  and  products  are  paid  for  according  to  their  classification. 
Hence  speculation  ceases,  competition  ends  and  every  one  is 
awarded  in  full,  and  on  delivery  for  his  or  her  labor  and  product 
and  for  not  anything  more.  No  well-instructed  person  will  object 
to  the  equity  of  this. 

Foncier,  in  French,  stands  lor  home  or  manor;  hence  Credit 
Foncier  means  credit  based  upon  home  or  stationary  property,  in 
contradistinction  to  Credit  Mobilier,  which  is  credit  based  upon 
movable  property,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  rolling  stock  on  rail- 
roads or  steamboats,  etc.  The  name  Credit  Foncier  was  selected 
because  we  base  not  only  our  credit  but  everything  upon  the  home 
— upon  the  home  life,  home  attractions,  home  influences;  upon 
the  love,  the  example,  the  comfort,  the  fireside,  the  endearments 
of  home;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  home  has  become  the  palladium 
of  our  Company,  and  that  our  by-laws  make  the  possession  of  a 
home  essential  to  permanent  membership. 

A  distinct  home  for  each  family  is  necessary  to  useful  life  and 
to  individual  character.  A  person  without  a  home  is  an  uncertain 
factor  in  society— often  enough  the  instigator  of  thieves,  arson  and 
murder.  No  matter  how  good  he  or  she  may  be  without  a  home, 
it  is  certain  that  he  or  she  with  a  home  would  be  better.  Four 
walls  and  a  roof,  however,  do  not  constitute  a  home.  A  home 
made  attractive  to  a  civilized  person  must  be  not  only  luxuri- 
ous in  its  own  appointments,  but  should  have  entertaining  sur- 
roundings, where  nature  and  art  vie  to  keep  in  the  front  rank  of 
progressive  ideas,  cultures  and  tastes,  and  where  eclecticism  is  en- 
couraged and  elected  to  be  in  good  form.  Home  is  not  only 
"where  the  heart  is,"  but  where  the  mind  is  always  expanding, 
and  where  the  ethics  without  keep  pace  with  the  desires  within. 

In  pursuance  with  these  ideas  the  Credit  Foncier  Company, 
through  its  Departments  of  Employments  and  Diversification  of 
Industries,  secures  agreeable  occupations  for  every  adult  member 
and,  through  the  Department  of  Deposits  and  Loans,  it  offsets 
service  with  service  and  undertakes  from  the  start  to  build  and 
settle  every  head  of  a  family  in  a  house—  in  a  house  built  after  the 
wishes  and  upon  the  lot  or  lots  selected  by  the  particular  member. 
A  home  being  secured  for  each  head  of  a  family  and  the  lands  be- 
ing held  in  fee  simple  by  the  corporation  for  the  use  of  all  and 
Erotected  from  the  abuse  of  any,  the  foundation  is  substantially 
dd  for  separating  public  utilities  from  private  properties  and  for 
having  mankind  to  deal,  one  with  the  other,  equitably — with  just 
weights  and  measures  and  with  a  correct  instrument  of  associ- 
ation; for  "  A  false  balance  is  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,  but  a 
just  weight  is  his  delight."  (Prov.  ii,  1.) 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  in  the  uses  and  facilities  given  by 
its  Department  of  Deposit  and  Loans  prides  itself  upon  having 
solved  vexatious  problems  which  have  agitated  the  past  ages  and 


14 

which  still  distresses  society.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  pawnshop 
where  all  members  deposit  their  money,  personal  property  and 
realty  and,  that  which  is  more  important  than  all  together  many 
times  over,  their  labor,  which  is  always  received  at  its  full  value 
and  accredited,  on  presentation,  upon  the  books  of  the  Company. 
The  Department  of  Deposit  and  Loans  of  the  Credit  Foncier  Com- 
pany, is  a  savings  bank  for  its  members  where  profits  are  declared 
to  depositors  and  not  interest  paid.  It  is  easy  to  pro  rate  profits 
with  those  who  co-operate  to  make  a  business  successful ;  but  it  is 
mostly  ruinous  to  insure  interests  to  those  who  do  nothing  but 
embarrass  honest  effort.  Our  depositors  simply  authorize  their 
own  agents  to  utilize  their  moneys  and  services  for  the  benefit  of 
the  common  weal  and  are  secured  by  credits  upon  the  bt>oks  of 
the  Company.  These  credits  are  legal  tender  at  par  for  all  ser- 
vices in  the  settlements  of  the  Company  and  at  the  home  and 
foreign  banks  with  which  the  Credit  Foncier  does  business.  This 
security,  it  is  believed,  will  be  nearer  safe  and  more  satisfactory 
in  its  uses  and  revenues  than  bonds,  mortgages,  stocks,  etc.,  have 
been;  for  it  is  well  known  that  hundreds  of  millions  of  bonds 
issued  by  Nations,  States  and  Corporations  have  been  repudiated, 
principal  and  interest.  Mortgages  have  been  found  to  be  placed 
upon  properties  where  no  title  existed;  and  stocks  have  been 
watered  until  their  uses  have  ceased. 

To  pro  rate  profits  is  easy  at  all  times,  no  matter  if  they  are 
large;  but  to  pay  interest  during  unprofitable  years,  even  if  ever 
so  little,  cuts  both  ways. 

Our  Department  of  Deposits  and  Loans  banks  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  individual  and  not  upon  the^  amount  of  bonds  and 
money  he  or  she  may  hold;  and  every  day  in  the  year  a  member 
may  deposit  his  or  her  crude  or  skilled,  manual  or  mental,  labor 
and  be  accredited  upon  the  company's  books  for  its  full  valuation. 
In  this  way  we  utilize  every  willing  mind  and  laboring  arm  and 
save  every  hour  set  apart  for  work. 

Labor  co-operating  with  the  land  and  natural  elements,  pro- 
duces all  wealth,  every  luxury;  and  the  Credit  Foncier  Company 
employs  and  directs  labor  at  the  moment  it  is  offered,  secures  and 
controls  the  land  and  all  which  within  and  upon  it  rests,  and  saves 
the  time  of  every  member  by  acting  without  delay  in  bringing  the 
labor  and  the  land  into  useful  interdependence  and  systematized 
co-operation.  There  is  truth  in  the  of t-quoted  words :  "Time  is 
money;"  and  that  labor  is  wealth  no  thinking  person  will  dispute. 
The  Credit  Foncier  Company  is  the  first  ever  incorporated,  wTe 
believe,  to  accept  labor  the  moment  it  is  offered  and  to  so  direct 
as  to  make  it  a  credit  and  the  equivalent  of  a  legal  tender  currency 
within  the  community  which  employs  it  and  with  those  with 
whom  the  said  community  transacts  business;  and  it  is  the  only 
association  in  existence  which  maintains  that  labor  and  time  are 
the  most  perishable  and  important  factors  to  be  found  within  a 
State,  and  that  they  should  be  the  objects  of  the  greatest  care  by 
those  in  authority. 

The  New  York  Clearing  House  offsets  the  debts  between  banks. 
Our  Department  of  Deposits  and  Loans  offsets  services  of  one 
member  against  those  of  another;  and  as  money  is  only  used  to 


15 

pay  balances,  $100  in  money,  in  our  community,  -will  perform  the 
functions  of  $100,000  in  cities  not  organized  to  offset  services. 
Balances  between  producers  are  an  infinitesimal  quantity  when 
compared  with  the  exchanges  made,  and  yet  all  the  financiering  of 
the  commercial  world  is  done  to  the  end  that  this  fact  may  be  lost 
sight  of  and  that  the  producers  may,  by  the  cunning  tricksters 
and  ' '  the  cannibals  of  exchange  alley, "  be  legally,  consistently, 
persistently  and  incessantly  plundered.  The  same  fuss  is  made 
about  foreign  trade,  which  is  never  more  than  10  to  14  per  cent,  of 
any  nation's  business,  and  yet  it  rules  political  parties,  agitates 
people  and  deceives  political  economists.  When  a  trunk  railroad 
line  is  to  be  completed  from  ocean  to  ocean,  it  is  the  through 
business  which  the  bond  hucksters  mostly  urge,  although  the  local 
business  gives  about  87  to  90  per  cent,  of  the  gross  receipts  of  the 
road,  and  England,  which  has  only  8  per  cent,  of  the  gold  held 
by  commercial  nations,  and  which  never  has  yet  produced  one 
ounce  of  that  metal,  is  a  monometalist,  and  makes  the  most  noise 
about  that  wrhich  she  has  the  least  of;  and  while  97%  per  cent,  of 
her  exchanges  are  settled  with  checks,  drafts,  exchequer  notes 
and  Clearing  House  certificates,  she  publicly  declares  that  there 
can  be  no  just  payment  of  debts  except  with  gold  coin. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  maintains  that  labor  is  the  most 
important,  the  most  valuable  possession  held  by  any  nation ;  that  it 
is  the  basis  of  all  wealth;  and  it  is  to  utilize  labor  and  to  demon- 
strate this  fact  that  our  Department  of  Deposits  and  Loans  was 
instituted.  Deposited  labor  is  more  useful  than  deposited  gold, 
and  this  is  the  basic  idea  of  our  association. 

A  pawnshop  will  advance  money  upon  an  old  Bible,  a  revolver 
which  won't  revolve,  on  a  worn-out  ring,  and  on  most  articles  of 
finished  workmanship,  while  our  department  does  all  which  the 
pawnshop  intends  to  do,  and  is  so  prepaid  through  centralized 
management  and  diversified  industries,  to  take  upon  deposit  labor 
from  its  crudest  to  its  highest  form,  and  so  direct  and  utilize  it 
that  the  individual  is  benefited  and  the  corporation  is  enriched. 

_  There  has  not  been  a  Nation  recorded  in  history  which  ever 
utilized  one  thousandth  part  of  its  labor;  and  all  Nations  have 
robbed  their  producers  and  squandered  the  time  of  their  citizens. 
Labor,  if  not  used  systematically,  is  gone  forever,  and  time  lost 
can  never  be  recovered.  A  company  which  has  for  its  purposes 
the  care,  the  instruction  and  organization  of  labor,  the  saving  and 
utilization  of  time,  and  the  control  and  management  ot  land,  is 
building  upon  a  firm  foundation,  and  will  be  proudly  advancing 
in  the  line  of  enlightened  association  and  happiness,  when  present 
governments  and  to-day's  institutions  are  a  stench  in  the  nostrils 
of  their  subjects  and  of  their  advocates. 

The  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  a  period 
in  which  incorporated  companies  have  reigned  supreme,  and  their 
success  in  accomplishing  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  created 
has  been  marked,  their  earnings  great  and  their  influences  many. 

If  a  street  car,  banking,  gas,  electric  light,  telegraph,  insurance, 
coal,  manufacturing,  farming,  cattle,  fruit  canning,  land  improve- 
ment, construction  companies,  building  associations,  etc.,  have 
been  useful,  acting  separately  under  different  organizations  and 


16 

ofttimes  antagonistic  one  with  the  other,  why  should  they  not  be 
still  more  useful  to  all  concerned  if  associated  in  one  company 
and  under  one  direction?  Is  not  union  strength?  Is  not  co-oper- 
ation better  than  competition?  Is  not  construction  more  pleasant 
than  destruction?  Is  not  peace  to  be  preferred  to  war? 

The  purpose  of  the  Credit  Foncier  Company  is  to  unite  benefits 
and  to  harmonize  differences,  and  its  moral  is  expressed  in  its 
motto:  "Duty,  Interdependence  and  Equity.""  It  maintains  that 
there  is  a  duty  which  every  man,  woman  and  child  owes  to  every 
other  man,  woman  and  child;  that  one  is  interdependent  with  the 
other,  and  that  in  every  association,  act  and  word,  equity  should 
be  considered. 

The  4,000  members  of  the  Credit  Foncier  Company  when 
gathered  together  upon  their  city  site,  will  at  once  give  a  valuation 
of  $4,000,000  to  the  1,000  acres  upon  which  they  settle.  There  is 
nothing  so  sure  or  substantial  as  the  association  of  people  and  land. 
Locate  1,000  acres  almost  anywhere,  and  place  500  persons  per- 
manently upon  them,  and  you  have  increased  their  value  $1,000 
to  each  person  settled.  If  settlers  acted  individually,  each  con- 
troling  his  or  her  own  property  of  more  or  less  value,  there  would 
necessarily  be  antagonisms,  and  the  coming  together  of  the  settlers 
would  be  mostly  the  gain  of  land  speculators  and  of  cunning,  un- 
principled sharps.  The  Credit  Foncier  Company  avoids  conflicts 
,of  interests,  and  attracts  all  its  forces  to  co-operate  for  the  best  of 
each  by  centralizing  the  common  gain  for  the  general  good. 

Again,  when  there  is  private  ownership  in  city  property,  spec- 
ulation rules  and  the  population  scatters,  for  when  a  house  is  built 
the  lots  adjoining  raise  in  price,  and  the  next  builder  is  driven  by 
enhanced  prices  to  a  distance,  rather  than  attracted  to  move  up 
close  to  the  buildings  already  erected.  The  Credit  Foncier  Com- 
pany reverses  this.  It  begins  to  build  in  the  center  of  the  selected 
site,  and  although  a  person  is  at  liberty  to  choose  a  lot  where  he 
or  she  wishes,  it  is  quite  likely  that,  as  the  lots  are  the  same  price, 
that  the  blocks  will  advance  from  the  centre  outward  in  solid  and 
complete  order.  This  will  concentrate  the  people,  their  amuse- 
ments, their  instructions,  their  culture;  and  the  streets  will  be  put 
in  first-class  condition  at  the  time  each  block  is  completed.  Good 
order  is  contagious,  and  well-formed  plans  work  in  every  direc- 
tion, at  all  times  and  in  harmony  for  the  advancement  and  the 
happiness  of  those  who  think  before  they  act,  and  act  vigorously 
after  they  are  certain  that  they  are  right. 

To  give  another  example :  The  Credit  Foncier  Company  buys 
everything  necessary  for  the  uses  of  its  members  in  quantity  and 
for  cash,  and  sells  it  to  the  members  in  the  quantity  wished  at 
cost;  thus  saving  at  least  25  per  cent,  to  the  consumer  and  guaran- 
tees the  article  to  be  always  good  and  as  represented.  In  the  case 
of  food  the  company  cooks  and  serves,  at  cost,  a  la  carte  or  other- 
wise, as  it  may  be  desired  by  the  one  served.  This  not  only 
guarantees  the  best  quality  of  wholesome  food,  but  it  insures  the 
most  skilled  knowledge  of  the  culinary  art  and  the  most  careful 
regularity  and  taste  in  serving  at  table.  The  more  persons  co- 
operating the  better  and  cheaper  can  each  be  served.  To  serve 
4,000  persons,  as  well  as  they  are  served  at  Delmonico's  in  New 


17 

York  at  $3  per  order,  will  probably  cost,  in  Sinaloa,  each  person 
20  cents  per  day. 

It  can  be  readily  seen  that  with  us  there  can  be  no  merchant, 
middleman,  manipulator  or  money-changer.  All  which  they  have 
made,  by  handling  other  people's  labors,  products  and  talents,  will 
go  to  the  common  fund.  There  being  no  employment  of  one 
person  by  another  person,  there  will  be  no  way  for  one  to  enrich 
himself  at  the  expense  of  another  ;  and  hence  there  will  be  no 
lawyers  ;  and,  as  inquiry,  examination  and  truth  are  to  be  in  every 
way  encouraged  by  our  association,  there  will  be  no  business  for 
ordained  ministers  or  holy  priests.  Our  purpose  is  to  live  a  cor- 
rect life  and  not  to  preach  salvation  or  to  sustain  superstition. 
"We  maintain  that  there  is  a  distinction  with  a  difference  between 
to  pray  and  prey  ;  between  rights  and  rites  ;  between  principle 
and  principal ;  between  truth  and  revelation  ;  and  we  deplore  the 
fact  that  most  of  our  countrymen  and  women  have  not  learned 
this  distinction. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company,  from  first  to  last,  never  imposes 
a  direct  tax  upon  any  person  or  article  or  service.  From  the 
revenues  which  come  into  its  treasury  by  the  management  of  its 
street  cars,  electric  lights  and  powers,  steamboats,  steam  cars, 
farms,  hotels,  theatres,  fisheries,  canneries,  manufactures,  etc.,  etc., 
it  attends  to  all  public  thoroughfares,  parks,  schools,  insurances, 
hospitals,  buildings,  sanitations,  improvements,  etc.,  etc.  Charity, 
which  bemeans  both  giver  and  receiver,  will  be  relegated  to  the 
past,  for  there  cannot  be  occasion  for  it  within  our  community. 
There  will  be  no  licenses,  rents,  interests  in  our  Company.  If  a 
thing  is  useful  it  is  not  just  that  a  person  should  pay  for  license  to 
do  it ;  if  it  is  bad,  it  should  not  be  tolerated  under  any  considera- 
tion. The  Mother  Church  licenses  the  rich  to  commit  any  crime, 
and  some  of  our  politicians  argue  that  if  you  put  a  "  high  license," 
whatever  that  may  be,  upon  the  sale  of  liquors,  that  they  have 
done  a  commendable  act.  Both  act  perniciously  ;  each  wants 
money  and  sells  principle  for  principal.  Rents  and  interests 
belong  to  capitalistic  communities ;  with  co-operation  incorpor- 
ated, profits  take  their  place.  The  Credit  Foncier  Company 
cannot  contract  a  debt,  or  have  a  mortgage  or  lien  upon  its  prop- 
erties. And  a  member  cannot  hypothecate  his  home,  stock  or 
anything  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Credit  Foncier  Company, 
in  any  way  whatever  other  than  with  the  corporation.  The 
Credit  Foncier  Company  makes  it  a  study  to  assist  every  arm  and 
brain  to  action,  useful  and  profitable.  It  gives  for  use  lands, 
buildings  and  machinery  without  cost,  rent  or  interest ;  pays  cash 
for  the  product  delivered  and  for  articles  manufactured  ;  and  by 
advancing  the  interests  of  the  individual  members  adds  directly 
and  indirectly,  in  a  hundred  different  ways,  and  at  all  times,  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  community.  Prosperity  made  general  gives 
security  to  the  individual,  encourages  eclecticism  and  makes  pro- 
gress steady  and  substantial. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  does  not  ask  any  one  to  join  it, 
but  its  members  are  pleased  to  explain  the  details  of  its  workings, 
and  are  glad  when  persons  are  attracted  to  unite  their  fortunes, 
their  crafts,  'their  lives  with  theirs. 


18 

The  Credit  Fonder  Company  in  its  contract  with  the  Texas, 
Topolobanipo  and  Pacific  Bailroad  and  Telegraph  Company  agrees 
not  only  to  furnish  the  capital,  but  the  labor  necessary  to  construct, 
equip  and  operate  the  said  railroad  and  telegraph  lines,  and  to 
survey  and  colonize  lands,  etc.  The  said  railroad  company  pays 
the  Credit  Foncier  Company,  just  as  other  railroad  companies  pay 
ordinary  banking  houses  for  money,  with  bonds  and  stocks. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  before  long  may  become  the 
controller  and  manager  of  the  said  railroad  and  its  franchises  ; 
and  thus  we  may  see,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  actual  builders  of 
a  railroad  come  to  possess  the  work  of  their  own  labor.  Such  a 
sight  as  this  indeed  would  be  strange,  in  a  land  where  those  who 
produce  the  food  starve  ;  where  those  who  build  houses  have  no 
homes  :  where  those  who  produce  clothes  wear  rags  ;  and  where 
those  who  neither  produce,  build  or  make  have  everything. 

But  as  beneficial  as  this  plan  will  be  for  the  members  of  the 
Credit  Foncier  Company,  it  will  be  found  of  the  greatest  good  to 
Mexico  and  her  people,  for  the  members  of  the  Credit  Foncier 
Company  have  their  homes  in  Mexico,  and  the  dividends  on  the 
stock  and  the  interests  on  the  bonds  will  remain  along  the  line 
and  go  into  home  industries  and  not  to  aliens  living  in  foreign 
lands. 

But  more  anon.  However,  before  the  wiseacres  and  penny-a- 
liners  criticise  the  "  Credit  Foncier  Company,"  it  would  be  well 
for  them  to  study  in  the  direction  of  correct  purpose,  at  least  suffi- 
ciently to  discriminate  between  socialism  and  anarchism,  between 
evolution  and  revolution,  between  co-operation  and  communism, 
between  eclecticism  and  ritualism,  that  they  may  discriminate 
between  that  which  is  custom  because  it  is  right  from  that  which. 
is  right  because  it  is  custom. 


HERMASILLO,  Sonora,  October  22,  1886. 
MR.  A.  K.  OWEN,  Present. 

Dear  Sir :  The  Mexican  government  in  granting  to  a  company 
incorporated  in  the  United  States  of  North  America  concessions 
to  build  railroads,  to  survey  and  to  colonize  public  and  other 
lands  in  Sonora,  Sinaloa,  Chihuahua  and  Coahuila,  has  done  so 
for  the  general  good  of  the  people  of  these  States  in  particular  and 
of  those  of  the  United  States  of  Mexico  in  general ;  and  I,  as  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Sonora,  wish  to  express  in  writing  to  yourself 
and  to  those  associated  with  you  my  sincere  interest  In  all  which 
may  affect  your  success  and  happiness  on  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of 
California. 

I  have  learned  with  particular  pleasure  of  the  intention  of  the 
"Credit  Foncier  Company"  to  settle  a  part  of  its  four  thousand 
and  more  colonists  at  Topolobampo  this  winter,  and  as  Governor 
of  the  State  of  Sonora,  for  my  people  and  for  myself  personally, 
I  extend  to  them  and  to  all  who  may  follow  their  example,  a 
welcome  to  and  across  pur  State  to  Sinaloa,  and  it  will  be  my 
pleasure  at  any  and  all  times  to  co-operate  with  them  in  any  way 


19 

-which  will  add  to  tlieir  own  advantage  and  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Mexican  Republic. 

I  wish  to  say  to  you  that  I  have,  in  person  and  on  two  occasions, 
visited  the  waters  of  the  harbor  of  Topolobampo,  and  that  it  is,  in 
natural  advantages,  probably  superior  to  any  other  harbor  within 
the  Republic  of  Mexico.  Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  yours  very 
truly,  Luis  TORRES. 


A  DREAM  OF  HEAVEN  BELOW- 


THE  CREDIT  FONCIER  OF  SINALOA. 


BOUNDING   A   SOCIALISTIC    STATE   ON    THE    PACIFIC— PLANS   TO 
REALIZE    THE   VISION. 


(From  a  special  correspondent  of  tUe  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  19,  18SG.) 

HAMMONTON,  N.  J.,  Dec.  18. 

Ideas  are  scant  and  well  worn  and  life  is  dull  and  decorous  in 
a  slow-going  country  town  like  this,  hidden  away  amid  the  gray 
sand  drifts  and  scrubby  pines  of  southern  New  Jersey.  One 
would  as  soon  think  of  finding  the  data  of  a  Parisian  novel  here  as 
the  stir  and  ferment  of  socialistic  theories  of  social  discontent.  And 
no  people,  perhaps,  will  be  more  surprised  than  the  Hammonton 
villagers  themselves  to  hear  that  for  more  than  a  year  past  a  little 
group  of  zealous  Fourierites  amongst  them  has  been  plotting  the 
foundation  of  a  new  socialistic  colony,  which,  if  successful,  will 
eclipse  the  peaceful  triumphs  of  the  New-Lebanon  Shakers,  or, 
failing,  will  vindicate  more  signally  than  ever  the  melancholy  les- 
sons of  Brook  Farm.  It  is  j  list  eighteen  months  ago  that  the  new 
venture — a  co-operative  city  on  the  shore  of  the  Pacific,  in*  the  State 
of  Sinaloa,  Mexico—  was  launched  here  by  Marie  and  Edward  How- 
land,  both  well-known  writers  among  the  socialistic  and  labor  re- 
form parties  of  this  country.  Edward  Ho  wland  has  been  a  master 
in  the  Grange,  and  a  prominent  G-reenbacker  in  the  time  of  the 
"  soft  money  craze."  His  wife  had  written  some  socialistic  novels, 
and  is  the  translator  of  M.  Godin's  "Solutions  Sociales."  Under 
their  direction  a  little  eight-page  paper  was  started,  called  "The 
Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa,"  the  scheme  itself  being  known  to  its 
subscribers  as  the  Credit  Foncier.  The  Credit  was  a  corporation 
or  stock  company  with  100,000  shares,  at  $10  a  share,  and  each 
prospective  colonist  took  one  share  or  more.  The  tiny  paper  had 
a  fair  success.  The  stock  was  scattered  far  and  wide  over  the 
West  and  South,  bit  by  bit  at  first,  then  block  by  block.  The  de 
tails  of  a  plan  of  government  and  living  were  worked  out.  Land 
in  Sinaloa  on  the  Bay  of  Topolobampo  was  bought ;  concessions 


20 

from  the  Mexican  Government  were  obtained  ;  the  Credit  Foncier 
was  incorporated  ;  the  actual  settlement  has  begun.  There  are 
now  about  2,000  men  and  women  enlisted  as  colonists.  Over 
15,000  shares  of  the  stock  have  been  sold.  Ground  will  be  broken 
gradually  at  Topolobampo,  but  by  next  spring  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  new  colony,  then  swollen  in  all  probability  to  2,500  or  3,000, 
will  reach  its  destination,  and  this  fresh  experiment  with  the  forces 
of  human  nature,  combative  as  well  as  co-operative,  will  begin. 

Brook  Farm  and  the  American  Phalanx  at  Red  Bank  failed,  as 
their  apologists  will  have  it,  through  lack  of  isolation,  of  a  fair 
chance  to  try  the  community  life  under  thoroughly  self-depend- 
ent conditions  in  fresh  fields  far  from  the  echo  of  the  old  world  of 
competition.  The  Credit  Foncier  hopes  now  to  build  a  city  on 
virgin  soil,  cut  off  by  nature  from  hostile  civilizations,  where  the 
co-operative  life  may  work  out  its  own  salvation  untrarn- 
meled,  or  fail  by  its  inherent  impotence,  and  that  alone. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  SCHEME. 

The  beginnings  of  this  striking  colony  scheme  go  further  back, 
however,  than  eighteen  months  ago  ;  to  the  wanderings,  in  fact,  of 
its  real  projector,  A.  K.  Owen,  in  Mexico  in  1872  and  1873. 
Owen  has  had  an  adventurous  career  from  boyhood  as  a  traveler 
and  surveyor,  rambling  afoot  over  nearly  every  country  in  Europe 
and  through  Palestine,  and  crossing  and  re-crossing  the  Western 
plains  before  the  days  of  railroads  or  stage  lines.  He  had  learned 
civil  engineering  in  Chester,  Delaware  County,  Penn. ,  and  plunged 
with  great  vigor  into  railroading  at  thirty  years  of  age.  Getting 
through  with  some  work  in  Colorado,  he  went  down  into  Mexico, 
in  1872,  with  General  W.  J.  Palmer,  to  survey  what  is  now  the 
Mexican  Central  Railroad.  For  eleven  months  he  pushed  his  ex- 
plorations through  Central  and  Western  Mexico  ;  and  in  Septem- 
ber, 1873,  traveling  by  chance  along  the  coast  of  Sinaloa,  he  dis- 
covered Topolobampo  Bay.  This  bay,  it  seems,  opening  off  the 
Pacific  by  a  narrow  passageway,  like  the  Golden  Gate  at  San 
Francisco,  had  escaped  the  notice  of  geographers  until  then. 
About  half-way  between  Guaymas,  a  poor  roadstead  to  the  northr 
and  Mazatlan,  another  poor  one  to  the  south,  lying  just 
where  the  Gulf  of  California  merges  with  the  ocean,  with  a  spa- 
cious land-locked  harbor,  deep  water  and  gently  sloping  shores,  it 
seemed  to  offer  rare  advantages  for  commerce.  The  young  sur- 
veyor saw  in  fancy  the  broad  harbor  covered  with  ships,  a  splendid 
city  on  its  northern  edge,  with  wharves  and  towers  and  parks,  the 
terminus  of  a  mesh  of  railroads  and  of  huge  steamboat  lines.  And 
that  dazzling  picture  of  wealth  and  industry  he  never  lost. 

A  railroad  across  Mexico  to  Topolobampo  became  now  his 
fondest  project.  At  the  Governors'  Convention  in  Atlanta,  in  the 
Virginia  Legislature,  in  the  United  States  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives — whenever  and  wherever  the  opportunity  offered — 
Owen  urged  the  claims  of  his  ' '  Great  Southern  Trans-Oceanic  and 
International  Air-line — Asia  to  Europe  via  Mexico."  President 
Grant,  in  his  second  term,  ordered  a  survey  of  Topolobampo  Har- 
bor, and  a  report  on  it  by  a  board  of  United  States  engineers  was 
published  in  the  War  Department.  Two  committees  in  Congress. 


21 


recommended  the  railroad  scheme  favorably,  before  1876,  but 
hard  times  followed,  and  nothing  came  of  it.  Owen  meanwhile 
had  joined  the  Greenback  party  and  gone  into  all  sorts  of 
labor  reform  movements  and  organizations — the  Sovereigns  of  In- 
dustry, the  Brotherhood  of  the  Union  and  the  Knights  of  Labor. 
From  ' '  soft  money"  he  ran  by  degrees  into  Socialism,  fiercely  at- 
tacking the  old  competitive  order  in  his  pamphlets  and  advocating 
what  he  calls,  in  recent  work  on  the  Sinaloan  colony,  "Integral 
Co-operation."  Full  of  these  socialistic  ideas,  he  went  to  Mexico 
once  more  in  1879  and  set  afoot  plans  for  digging  a  vast  system  of 
canals  and  drainage  for  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  and  for  building  the 
Mexican  State  railways.  His  proposals  were  accepted  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and  he  came  back  to  New  York  to  organize  a  syndicate 
for  the  work.  General  A.  T.  A.  Tarbert  was  at  the  head  of  it,  and 
Owen  sailed  with  him  and  seventy-four  others  for  Mexico  again 
in  the  City  of  Vera  Cruz.  The  steamer  foundered  off  Florida  and 
all  but  Owen  were  lost.  U.  8.  Grant,  jr.,  was  next  made  head  of 
the  syndicate,  but  by  this  time  the  Mexican  Central  and  Franco- 
Egyptian  banks  had  got  control  of  the  public  works  and  Owen's 
schemes  were  dropped. 

Nothing  was  left  but  to  organize  a  new  railroad  corporation  and 
apply  for  concessions  of  land  and  subsidies  for  building.  The 
Texas,  Topolobampo  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  was  formed 
with  ex-Senator  Windom  as  President,  and  General  B.  F.  Butler, 
ex-Mayor  Prince,  of  Boston,  General  Grant,  Wendell  Phillips, 
Minister  Romero,  E.  A.  Buck  and  John  H.  Rice  on  the  Board  of 
Directors.  In  1883  one  hundred  miles  of  road  were  surveyed  east- 
ward from  Topolobampo.  Owen  himself  had  charge  of  i't  and  of 
the  north  and  south  branches.  A  city  was  needed  badly  at 
the  terminus  of  the  railroad.  Inducements  would  have  to  be  given 
to  settlers.  Here  was  a  chance  for  Owen's  socialistic  friends,  one 
that  he  knew  they  would  enthusiastically  snap  at.  It  was  at  his 
suggestion  that  the  Hammonton  paper,  The  Credit  Fancier  of  8m- 
aloa,  was  started,  and  of  the  Credit  itself  he  became  practically  the 
leading  director.  He  drew  up  a  declaration  of  principles  for  the 
co-operative  city  and  has  been  its  recognized  agent  in  all  financial 
matters.  Last  summer  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  series  of  con- 
cessions from  the  Mexican  Government,  admitting  all  materials  for 
the  new  city  and  for  the  railroad  duty  free.  The  colonists,  too, 
were  to  be  exempt  from  all  taxes  and  conscription  for  a  period  of 
years,  and  subsidies  of  lands  and  money  were  promised  for  the 
building  of  railroads  and  the  clearing  and  cultivating  of  the  soil. 
Owen  is  now  in  Sinaloa  with  his  advance-guard  of  colonists  from 
Colorado,  Texas  and  California.  Some  15,000  city  lots  have  been 
purchased  for  $25,000  and  15,000  acres  of  farm  land  for  $10,000. 
A  few  houses  will  be  built,  the  ground  cleared  and  staked  off,  the 
plan  of  the  city  laid,  and  the  farm  lands  divided,  by  the  time  the 
bulk  of  the  colony  arrives  next  spring. 

THE  FINANCIAL  BASIS. 

The  Credit  Foncier  has  a  nominal  capital  of  $1,000,000.  About 
15,000  shares  have  been  taken  so  far,  realizing  $150,000.  About 
$340,000  in  United  States  money  and  some  $200,000  in  real  estate 


22 

have  also  been  pledged  by  stockholders,  as  deposits,  bearing 
interest,  with  the  Credit's  Department  of  Deposits  and  Loans.  The 
land  already  purchased  has  cost  $35,000.  A  steamer  of  500  tons 
burden  was  to  be  bought  for  $15,000.  A  hotel,  overlooking  the 
harbor,  to  be  built  for  $20,000;  a  section  of  the  colonial  head- 
quarters and  ten  model  houses  for  $20,000  more.  Thirty  thousand 
dollars  were  to  be  spent  on  a  pipe  line  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  to 
the  Rio  Fuerte  for  irrigation  and  drinking  water.  Finally  a  news- 
paper was  to  be  published  at  an  outlay  of  $2,000,  and  $10,000  more 
voted  for  incidental  expenses.  This  would  leave  $18,000  still  in 
the  treasury,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  money  spent  coming 
back,  of  course,  to  the  laboring  colonists  themselves,  in  the  shape  of 
lands  and  houses. 

This  was  the  first  scheme  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and  all 
would  have  gone  smoothly  along  the  lines,  if  the  Texas,  Topolo- 
bampo  and  Pacific  Railroad  had  kept  on  building.  But  in  July 
or  August  last  the  Mexican  Government  withdrew  its  subsidy  of 
$5,376  a  mile,  and  the  construction  company  within  the  railroad 
company  precipitately  abandoned  work.  The  railroad  company 
showed  the  white  feather  too,  leaving  the  poor  colonists  in  tlie 
lurch.  Owen  was  equal  to  the  emergency,  however.  He  now 
proposes  that  the  Credit  Foncier  buy  1,000  shares — one-fourth  of 
all  of  the  Texas,  Topolobampo  and  Pacific  Railroad  and  Telegraph 
Company,  and  28,000  shares— also  one-fourth  of  all  of  the  Mexican- 
American  Construction  Company— for  $200,000,  and  give  in  pay- 
ment a  bond  for  thirty  years  at  6  per  cent.,  it  being  further  agreed 
that  1,000  shares  more  of  the  railroad  and  telegraph  company  be 
"pooled"  with  the  Credit  Foncier  in  case  of  a  vote  to  sell.  The 
cost  of  thirty-five  miles  of  railway  from  Topolobampo  to  the  River 
Fuerte  would  be,  at  most,  $5,500  a  mile,  or  $192,500  in  all.  But 
500  colonists  will  be  employed  on  the  railway  and  a  part  of  the  ex- 
pense, the  profits  of  the  construction,  will  thus  be  saved  the  cor- 
poration itself.  And  on  these  easy  terms,  too,  the  improvements  in 
the  first  plan  will  all  be  carried  out. 

SCOPE  OF  THE  ENTERPRISE. 

The  Credit  Foncier,  in  fact,  -as  it  appears  in  all  these  trans- 
actions, is  a  huge  banking  house,  a  stock  company  to  which  each 
colonist  is  at  once  creditor  and  debtor.  All  middlemen  are  sup- 
pressed. What  a  single  corporation  does  in  a  single  branch  of 
business,  banking,  railroading,  mining,  lighting  the  streets,  fur- 
nishing conveniences  of  one  sort  or  another,  it  does  in  all  branches 
together.  The  Credit  Foncier  will  own  everything  and  manage 
everything.  No  colonist  can  have  any  dealings  directly  with 
another  colonist,  but  only  with  the  State.  All  will  be  functionaries 
and  of  equal  rank,  the  director  himself  who  manages  the  public 
business,  and  the  woman  who  scrubs  the  public  halls.  There  aie 
to  be  no  servants  and  no  masters,  no  creditors  and  no  debtors  Within 
the  corporation  itself.  No  society,  partnership,  or  even  church,  is 
longer  possible.  Religious  belief  is  made  a  personal  matter  purely, 
and  priesthood  is  abolished.  Marriage,  however,  though  a  sort  of 
contract,  is  both  allowed  and  encouraged,  and  society  is  ^to  be 
based  on  strict  monogamic  rules.  The  colony,  in  short,  is  one 
that  asks,  according  to  the  curious  phrases  of  its  projector,  "i'tfr 


23 

evolution  and  not  for  revolution  ;  for  interdependence  and  not  for 
independence  ;  for  co-operation  and  not  for  competition  ;  for  equity 
and  not  for  equality  ;  for  duty  and  not  for  liberty  ;  for  employment 
and  not  for  charity  ;  for  eclecticism  and  not  for  dogma  ;  for  one  law 
and  not  for  class  legislation ;  for  corporate  management  and  not 
for  political  control ;  for  State  responsibility  for  every  person,  ai 
all  times,  and  in  every  place,  and  not  for  municipal  irresponsibility 
for  any  person,  at  any  time  or  in  any  place  ;  and  it  demands  thai 
the  common  interests  of  the  citizen — the  atmosphere,  land,  water, 
light,  power,  exchange,  transportation^-  construction,  sanitation, 
education,  entertainment,  insurance,  production,  distribution,  etc. , 
etc. — be  pooled,  and  that  the  private  life  of  the  citizen  be  held 
sacred." 

The  corporate  State,  of  course,  is  the  board  of  ten  directors,  two 
of  whom  are  elected  annually  by  a  vote  of  stock.  One  director  is 
made  chairman  and  the  other  nine  are  set  each  over  a  Department 
of  his  own.  The  head  of  each  department,  like  that  of  the  De- 
partment of  Policing,  Sewerage  and  Cleanliness,  or  of  Farming, 
Forestry,  Stock-raising,  Game,  and  Fish  Culture,  has  complete 
control  over  all  the  laborers  under  his  direction ;  making  assign- 
ments of  work  each  day,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  eight  other 
chiefs,  fixing  the  wages  or  salary  paid  each  man.  There  is  to  be, 
presumably,  perfect  harmony  all  round,  the  laborer  getting  small 
wages,  taking  consolation  from  the  fact  that  the  State  thereby 
saves  something  and  the  percentage  of  profits  to  all  is  sensibly  or 
insensibly  raised.  But  all  these  are  untried  delicacies  of  detail. 
The  State  stands  ready  to  modify  them  in  the  working  out. 

The  city  of  Topolobampo,  as  laid  down  on  the  colony's  maps, 
is  one  of  the  airiest  and  most  charming  in  the  world.  The  streets 
are  to  be  wide  and  cut  one  another,  for  the  main  part,  at  right 
angles,  though  diagonal  avenues,  like  those  of  Washington,  inter- 
sect here  and  there.  The  squares  and  circles  will  be  set  in  trees 
and  flowers  and  fountains.  The  houses  will  be  built  in  the  Moor- 
ish style,  with  pillars,  carvings  and  open  courts.  The  streets  will 
be  paved  with  asphalt  or  some  other  hard  substance,  for  bicycle 
and  tricycle  riding.  Cable  cars  may  be  used  for  travel,  but  no 
horses.  All  domestic  animals,  horses,  dogs,  cats,  fowls,  and  the 
rest,  are  to  be  kept  beyond  the  city  limits.  There  will  be  little  rain- 
fall and  no  snowfall,  and  the  Department  of  Street  Cleaning  will 
be  a  sinecure— if  there  is  one  at  all  in  this  model  metropolis  of  the 
future. 

No  less  Utopian  are  the  fertility  and  beauty  of  the  Topolo- 
bampan  fields,  as  they  appear  to  the  colonists.  In  the  rich  valley 
of  the  Rio  Fuerte,  as  a  matter-of-fact  public  document  makes  it 
out,  all  cereals  grow,  with  rice  and  cotton,  tobacco  and  sugar  cane. 
The  rainy  season  has  its  two  crops,  and  one  can  get  two  more,  per- 
haps, from  the  alluvial  bottom  lands  by  careful  irrigation.  Back 
toward  the  mountain  ranges  the  fruits  of  two  zones  are  found,  the 
banana  vieing  with  the  luscious  pear,  the  orange  with  the  New- 
England  apple.  Timber  of  all  sorts  abounds,  and  the  whole  coast 
range  of  mountains  is  streaked  with  precious  veins  of  metal.  The 
bay  itself  is  stocked  with  fish  so  densely  that  the  native  Indians 
and  Mexicans  use  no  lines  or  nets,  but  only  spears.  Add  to  all 


24 

this  the  temperate  climate,  which  the  projectors  of  the  railroad 
found — cool  nights  and  breezy  days  even  in  the  dry  season,  the 
thermometer  rarely  showing  more  than  70°  or  80?,  a  fine  light 
atmosphere  and  constant  southwestern  winds — and  one  has  some 
faint  conception  of  the  charms  of  this  Land  of  Promise,  bathed  in 
the  mellow  Southern  sun  of  fancy,  fragrant  with  perfumes  like 
some  new  Araby  the  Blest. 

In  all  this  Eldorado  one  thing  is  certain,  at  least,  Topolobampo 
has  an  unequaled  site.  From  New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  or 
Galveston,  it  is  the  nearest  point  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and,  as  Owen 
himself  has  taken  pains  to  show,  it  lies  on  the  most  direct  line 
across  the  continent  from  England  to  the  Australian  Colonies.  No 
harbor  on  the  Pacific  coast,  except  that  of  San  Francisco,  can  ap- 
proach it.  The  outer  bar  never  shows  less  than  twenty-six  feet — 
frequently  over  thirty — and  the  channel  is  wide  and  deep.  With 
any  fair  degree  of  progress  the  new  city  will  in  time  control,  at  least, 
the  trade,  both  coasting  and  railroad,  of  the  western  slope  of  Mex- 
ico. It  is  a  dream  of  commercial  supremacy  as  well  as  of  social 
order — this  distant  commonwealth—and  no  one  who  will  not  work 
for  both  is  wanted  among  its  citizens. 

THE  COLONISTS. 

The  Credit  Fonder  of  Sinaloa  published  in  October  last  a  par- 
tial list  of  the  colonists — 1,423  adults  in  all — with  their  probable 
occupations.  There  were  256  housewives  promised,  196  farmers,  95 
carpenters,  35  clerks,  41  laborers,  22  blacksmiths,  23  painters, 23  mer- 
chants, 21  civil  engineers,  31  printers,  18  miners,  and  21  dress- 
makers. Twenty-nine  put  themselves  down  as  teachers  and  29  as 
stock-raisers.  There  were  10  telegraphers,  4  musicians,  3  stenog- 
raphers, and  7  inventors.  One  man  had  the  hardihood  to  profess 
authorship,  and  there  were  two  preachers,  one  elocutionist,  one 
lecturer,  and  seven  editors.  On  the  whole  the  list  was  well  bal- 
anced, 188  different  trades  and  professions  having  representatives. 
Seven  editors  will,  doubtless,  prove  too  great  a  burden  for  The 
Credit  Fonder  in  its  new  quarters,  and  many  other  occupations,  of 
course,  will  droop  or  vanish  altogether.  And  when  personal  tastes 
about  work  and  haphazard  assignments  clash,  the  real  tug  in  the 
co-operative  system  will  come. 

There  are  many  trials  and  privations,  no  doubt,  before  the  Sin- 
aloan  colony.  The  perils  of  a  half -tropical  climate,  the  weary 
struggle  with  new  uncleared  soil,  the  light  against  drouth,  the 
delays  and  vexations  of  building  railroads,  houses,  waterways, 
piers  and  streets,  and  the  strain  of  life  through  all  these  enterprises 
under  the  new  system  of  association  and  self-support — all  these 
are  enough  to  dismay  the  most  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Topolo- 
bampan  State.  But  in  a  way  the  venture  has  a  prospect  of  suc- 
cess. The  bulk  of  the  colonists  come  from,  the  country,  from 
Texas,  California,  Colorado,  Michigan  and  Kansas.  Many  of  them 
have  practised  irrigation  and  are  accustomed  to  the  hardships  of 
frontier  life.  They  ought  to  get  an  easy  subsistence  from  the 
fertile  soil  of  Sinaloa.  But  to  plot  out  the  city,  build  the  railroad, 
dig  the  waterways  and  bend  to  all  the  delicate  workings  of  the 


25 

communistic  State-^  that  calls  for  an  energy  of  purpose,  a  subtle 
and  finely  tempered  skill  above  the  average  of  human  flesh. 

Yet  the  Topolobampan  colonists  are  terribly  in  earnest,  to  all 
appearances.  There  is  something  pathetic  in  their  eagerness  to 
sell  their  homes  here  and  pledge  their  whole  fortunes  to  the  suc- 
cess or  failure  of  the  Mexican  colony.  It  is  not  a  religious  ardor, 
looking  to  privations  here  and  rewards  hereafter,  that  draws  them 
to  tlu's  distant,  unbuilt  city  in  the  wilderness,  but  a  weariness  of  the 
struggle  and  selfishness  of  the  world  of  competition,  a  longing  for 
an  ideal  commonwealth,  where  the  strong  and  the  weak,  the  rich 
and  the  poor  shall  fare  alike,  and  earthly  happiness  come  back 
once  more  to  all  men.  It  is  the  dream  of  a  perfect  State,  the  vision 
of  Plato  and  Sir  Thomas  Moore. 

There  is  a  little  hymn  that  the  Sinaloan  colonists  sing  often, 

"In  a  beautiful  land,  as  I  dream, 

Is  a  palace  and  city  all  new ; 
Prophetical  vision,  I  deem, 

This  mystical  city  most  true. 

From  Dreamland,  O  city,  arise, 
For  shadows  the  substance  must  be ; 

And  he  who  has  faith,  and  who  tries, 
This  beautiful  city  shall  see." 

Such  is  their  faith  and  hope,  and  having  cast  religion  proper 
aside,  this  city  of  Dreamland  has  become  their  cult. 


SOCIALISM  IN  ACTION. 


AN  INTERESTING  VIEW  OF  TOPOLOBAMPO. 


(From  Jo7m  Swtntoris  Paper,  New  YorTc,  January  2, 1887.) 

The  history  of  mankind  in  their  steady  advance  from  the  lowest 
condition  of  savageism  to  the  present  civilization  is  marked  by  the 
inception  and  growth  of  socialism— by  the  conception  that  the 
institutions  through  which  the  lives  of  each  of  us  are  predestined 
to  failure  or  success  is  a  matter  for  human  arrangement,  and  is  the 
most  important  subject  for  consideration. 

It  was  the  practical  application  of  this  conception  which  led  to 
our  revolution  in  the  last  century,  and  to  the  forcible  attempt  to 
replace  the  organized  institutions  of  royalty  by  those  of  a  republic. 
The  promulgation  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  the 
public  statement  of  the  fact  that  this  country  had  accepted 
socialism  as  its  rule  and  guide  for  the  organization  of  human  rela- 
tions, and  this  statement  was  really  the  key  and  the  interior  mean- 
ing of  all  our  political  progress  up  to  1860. 

The  war  which  then  was  undertaken  was  merely  a  foolish 
slaughter,  if  it  was  not  undertaken  with  the  view  of  endorsing  this 
belief  and  reiterating  it  as  the  policy  of  the  country. 


26    . 

And  yet  by  one  of  the  sudden  aberrations  of  human  society, 
for  the  past  twenty  years  or  more,  the  entire  legislation  of  this 
country,  and  the  political  efforts  of  our  public  men,  have  been 
used  to  controvert  practically  the  meaning  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  make  it  a  glittering  tissue  of  abstractions 
instead  of  what  it  really  is,  a  statesmanlike  chart  for  our  political 
action.. 

So  far  had  this  attempted  retrogression  gone  that  a  few  believers 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  determined  to 
illustrate  their  belief  by  the  establishment  of  the  ' '  Credit  Foncier 
of  Sinaloa."  It  had  happened  that  one  of  these,  Mr.  A.  K.  Owen, 
had  discovered  an  unknown  and  unused  harbor  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  at  Topolobampo,  in  Mexico,  and  they  proposed  to  build  a 
city  there,  offered  an  opportunity  for  gathering  a  colony,  to  be 
organized  upon  such  a  socialistic  basis  as  should  complete  and 
carry  out  to  their  legitimate  conclusions  the  Fourieristic  move- 
ments that  from  1840  to  1850  had  so  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
progressive  thinkers  of  the  world,  and  in  which  the  New  York 
Tribune  had,  at  that  time,  taken  a  prominent  part. 

There  had  been  but  a  single  pamphlet  published  by  Mr.  Owen, 
entitled  a  "  Social  Study,"  and  proposing  the  raising  of  a  fund  by 
general  subscription  sufficient  to  organize  a  colony  to  settle  in 
Sinaloa.  This  had  been  circulated— the  edition  was  1,000 — 
when  Marie  and  Edward  Howland,  residing  in  Hammonton,  N.  J., 
and  both  writers  of  more  or  less  reputation,  proposed  to  found  a 
weekly  paper  to  advocate  the  scheme.  This  was  done,  and  sixteen 
pages  of  pamphlet  size  were  printed  and  circulated  each  week  in 
advocacy  of  the  socialistic  plan  of  organizing  a  colony  to  settle  in 
Sinaloa,  the  capital  of  which  should  be  $1,000,000  in  100,000 
shares  at  $10  each.  Nearly  17,000  shares  have  been  sold,  and 
nearly  5,000  persons  have  subscribed  for  them.  They  come  from 
all  over  the  country,  but  chiefly  from  the  West.  Among  these 
subscribers  are  representatives  of  probably  over  two  hundred 
trades  and  occupations.  A  census  taken  some  months  ago  con- 
tained a  list  of  over  188. 

The  social  and  industrial  problems  of  the  colony  have  been 
illustrated  and  enforced  during  the  publication  of  the  paper  so 
thoroughly  and  well,  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  colony 
ever  entered  upon  the  inauguration  of  its  new  life  more  fully 
equipped  for  success.  The  institutions  which  Fourier  and  the 
socialist  students  and  writers,  both  of  Europe  and  America,  have 
constantly  advocated  and  advised  are  organized  for  immediate 
introduction  in  Sinaloa.  The  ownership  of  the  land  will  be  by 
the  community,  and  there  will  be  no  pecuniary  relations  between 
individuals,  as  the  State,  or  the  collectivity,  will  stand  entirely  in 
the  position  of  the  employer.  Each  number  of  the  organ,  which 
is  published  weekly,  is  headed  with  these  two  lines,  that  run  across 
the  entire  page  : 

"  Collective  ownership  and  management  for  public  utilities 
and  conveniences." 

' '  The  community  responsible  for  the  health,  usefulness,  indi- 
viduality and  security  of  each." 


27 

As  a  terse  and  complete  epitome  of  the  whole  body  of  socialistic 
doctrine,  this  condensation  is  really  a  noticeable  contribution  to 
the  literature  of  socialism.  Let  it  be  realized  that  these  five 
thousand  persons  have  been  so  thoroughly  enthused  and  convinced 
of  the  value  of  the  proposed  method  for  entering  up  on  the  next 
higher  ^lune  of  civilization  that,  induced  by  this  consideration, 
they  have  subscribed  and  stand  ready  to  go  half-way  round  the 
world  to  put  their  belief  in  practice. 

As  a  fact  in  the  history  of  social  science,  this  statement  en 
titles  this  movement  to  serious  consideration.  As  an  industrial 
movement,  the  fact  that  these  colonists  carry  witli  them  a  knowl- 
edge and  an  intention  to  organize  their  company  upon  a  social 
method,  and  expect  to  solve  the  financial  muddle  of  the  present 
era  of  money  starvation  by  making  their  own  circulation  and 
using  it  only  as  an  aid  to  industry,  it  is  certain  that  nothing  but 
the  blindest  social  apathy  can  pass  it  over  with  silence.  E.  EL 


THE  JOYS  OF  TOPOLOBAMPO. 


AN  ENTHUSIASTIC  LETTER  FROM  DR.  PEET  ON  THE 
SINALOA  SCHEME. 


KEPORTS  OP  THE  COMMITTEES— FRUITS,  FLOWERS  AND  KINDLY 
MEXICANS-AN  ARCADIA— THE  OUTLOOK. 


(From  the  Denver  Tribune-Republican,  Friday  morning,  Dec.  31,  1886.) 
TOPOLOBAMPO  BAY,  Sinaloa,  Mexico,  Dec.  18. 
Nothing  would  afford  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  be  able  to 
give  your  readers  an  accurate  and  comprehensive  pen  picture  of 
the  beauties  of  Topolobampo  and  Ohuira  bays,  of  the  grandeur  of 
the  rugged  bush  and  cactus- covered  hills  and  rocky  porphyry 
dykes  almost  surrounding  them.  As  you  approach  the  outer  bay, 
bearing  the  unique  aboriginal  appellation,  ' '  Topolobampo"  (signi- 
fying hidden  water),  from  the  Farallon,  a  large  solitary  rock  rising 
nearly  perpendicular  on  all  sides  from  the  surface  of  the  Gulf  of 
California  to  the  height  of  484  feet,  as  if  placed  there  by  the  Titans 
to  mark  the  entrance  to  the  channel  leading  to  the  bay,  you  would 
almost  imagine  that  the  sailors  had  lost  their  course,  their  compass 
or  their  senses,  and  had  started  for  the  hills,  so  meagre  and  im- 
probable are  the  appearances  of  a  large  bay  and  fine  harbor  in  that 
direction.  The  first  that  will  attract  your  attention  are  the 
breakers  to  the  north  of  the  channel  ;  next,  the  sand-bars  and  the 
-drifts  and  hills  of  beautiful  sand.  In  the  valleys  between  these 
sand  hills  an  abundance  of  excellent  fresh  water  is  obtained  by  dig- 
ging down  and  setting  barrels  in  the  loose  sand.  And  between  these 
sand  beds,  and  on  each  side  of  the  bay,  there  is  a  flat  of  several 


28 

hundred  acres  of  splendid  bottom  land  covered  with  wild  prairie 
grass  from  three  to  five  feet  high,  which,  if  cut,  would  make 
hundreds  of  tons  of  very  fair  hay. 

TOWERING  HILLS. 

These  grass  or  hay  covered  plains,  3arge  as  they  are',  would 
scarcely  be  noticed,  except  by  a  close  observer,  while  the  hills 
farther  inland  tower  up,  some  of  them  between  800  and  900  feet 
high,  and  are  painfully  conspicuous  to  the  colonist  looking  for  the 
site  of  Pacific  City,  the  future  metropolis  of  the  Pacific  coast. 
But  his  disappointment,  if  he  experiences  any,  must  certainly  be 
intermingled  with  the  enchanting  scenery  that  absorbs  and  rivets 
his  attention.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the  bay  there  is  a  large  island, 
called  Mummucahui,  which,  being  a  high,  rocky  hill,  intercepts 
all  appearances  of  the  Straits  of  Joshua,  and  its  top,  rising  up 
between  Mount  Joshua  on  the  south  and  Observation  Point  on  the 
north,  produces  the  impression  that  the  precipitous  base  of  these 
hills  forms  an  absolute  boundary  of  the  waters  in  that  direction, 
and  official  reports  have  been  made  to  that  effect,  which  probably 
accounts  for  the  absence  of  Topolobampo  and  Ohuira  bays  from 
nearly  all  maps  of  Mexico. 

But  contrary  to  the  misleading  appearances  there  is  a  wide 
channel  on  each  side  of  the  island,  one  of  which  is  more  than 
ninety  feet  deep.  And  what  is  still  more  surprising,  the  straits 
3ead  to  a  beautiful  bay  beyond  the  hills  of  some  thirty  square  miles 
in  area. 

But  I  must  leave  a  further  description  of  these  beautiful  bodies 
of  water  for  some  future  time,  and  take  your  kind  readers  to  tlie 
top  of  Observatory  Hill,  and,  if  you  are  a  colonist  or  a  stockholder 
of  the  Credit  Foncier  Company,  show  you  "where  your  posses- 
sions lie." 

A  GRAND  SCENE. 

Can  you  imagine  a  scene  more  grand- and  delightful  than  the 
one  before  you  ?  All  that  rich  and  fertile  plain  stretched  away 
thirty-five  miles  to  the  northeast,  rises  from  the  surface  of  the 
water  at  your  feet  and  the  estero  to  your  left,  at  the  rate  of  a  metre 
a  mile  as  you  go  toward  the  foothills. 

The  railroad  will  run  from  the  wharf  on  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Straits  of  Joshua,  through  a  short  cut  through  Harbor  Pass,  thence 
along  and  around  the  base  of  Howard  Ridge  to  the  plain  on  the  city 
side,  a  distance  of  about  one-half  mile  from  the  harbor  ;  it  then 
runs  due  north  along  a  200-foot  avenue  to  the  north  base  line  of 
the  city  ;  thence  north  thirty-two  miles  to  Vegaton,  over  as  fine 
and  fertile  a  plain  as  was  ever  traversed  by  a  railroad,  without  a 
bend  or  curve,  and  with  scarcely  a  variation  in  the  established 
grade  of  about  one  metre  to  the  mile — unlike  prairies,  which  are 
more  or  Jess  undulating,  and  consequently  require  cutting  and 
filling  and  frequent  culverts  ;  the  grade  for  this  railroad  was 
established  by  Dame  Nature,  and  for  the  sake  of  economy  she  left 
but  one  place  for  a  culvert,  and  that  the  bed  of  the  dry  lake  of 
Camajoa,  which  for  some  distance  requires  grading  up  about  six 
feet,  and  results  in  a  culvert  a  hundred  feet  deep.  A  short  cut, 


29 

twelve  feet,  will  have  to  be  made  in  one  place  through  the  saddle 
between  mountains  Seguin  and  Don  Martin  at  Vegaton. 

The  soil  of  this  vast  plain  consists  of  deep  strata  of  sandy 
alluvium,  upon  which  rests  a  thick  stratum  of  sedimentary  loam 
covered  with  a  rich,  dark  layer  of  vegetable  mould.  There  can 
be  no  question  about  its  fertilty,  and  its  agricultural  and  horticul- 
tural possibilities  are  truly  wonderful.  It  produces  an  endless 
variety  of  tropical  and  semi-tropical  fruits  of  the  very  best  quality 
in  great  profusion,  and  the  same  is  true  in  regard  to  cereals,  fibers, 
vegetables  and  grasses.  For  some  thirty  miles  of  the  distance  the 
plain  is  covered  with  a  dense  forest,  consisting  of  a  great  variety 
of  trees  and  cacti ;  the  former  of  rather  inferior  growth,  but  the 
proportions  attained  by  the  latter  are  simply  stupendous. 

FOREST  TREES. 

In  this  forest  the  cassia  or  locust  family  occupy  an  important 
position,  the  most  common  variety  of  which  is  the  Mesquite,  which 
occasionally  attains  a  height  of  45  feet  and  a  trunk  diameter  at 
the  base  of  1)^  feet,  and  sometimes  along  the  streams  considerable 
more.  The  trunk  of  the  tree  seldom,  in  this  country,  exceeds 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  height,  but  the  limbs  are  long,  very 
abundant  and  wide  spread.  It  is  an  excellent  timber  for  fuel,  and 
makes  first-class  charcoal.  The  Palo  Verda  and  screw  bean  are 
also  quite  common  members  of  the  same  family  in  this  vicinity. 
The  Pachote  or  vegetable  silk,  Cholata,  Guamuchil,  Caguinagna, 
Noeapui  (a  species  of  the  Banyan),  Lignumvitse  and  other  varieties 
.  abound  in  the  forest  in  question.  They  are  nearly  all  good  for 
fuel  and  charcoal,  and  some  of  them  make  good  furniture,  etc., 
though  none  of  it  can  be  considered  suitable  as  sawed  lumber  for 
building  purposes.  The  average  height  is  probably  from  25  to  30 
feet,  and  the  majority  of  it  less  than  a  foot  in  diameter.  Through 
this  timber  the  engineer  corps  is  cutting  a  road  20  feet  wide,  from 
Vegaton  to  Topolobampo  at  the  rate  of  about  one-half  mile  per  day. 

SITE  OF  VEGATON. 

The  site  of  Vegaton  is  located  on  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Fuerte  river,  at  the  intersection  of  the  Topolobampo  &  Mazatlan 
branches  of  T.  B.  &  P.  R.  R.,  and  where  the  latter  branch  crosses 
the  river. 

The  Fuerte  valley  is  principally  owned  in  large  tracts  by 
wealthy  Mexicans,  and  is  in  a  very  fair  state  of  cultivation,  and 
the  grains,  vegetables,  fibers  and  fruits  hereafter  mentioned  are, 
as  a  general  thing,  very  successfully  raised  there  without  irriga- 
tion. The  past  season,  however,  was  a  remarkably  dry  one — the 
driest  known  for  years — and  wheat,  corn,  oats,  barley,  and  nearly 
all  vegetables  were  an  utter  failure,  and  castor  beans  and  sugar 
cane  planted  early  in  the  season  were  also  destroyed  by  the  drouth  ; 
but  cane  and  castor  beans  planted  the  year  before  had  got  well 
rooted  and  have  produced  a  very  fair  crop.  The  calabash  (similar 
to  the  Hubbard  squash)  and  watermelon  were  "fair  to  middling" 
crops  in  spite  of  the  protracted  drouth.  About  the  only  provisions 
and  produce  that  our  colonists  can  purchase  of  the  natives,  are 
panoche,  i.  e.,  cane  sugar  in  cakes,  similar  in  taste  and  appearance 


30 

to  commercial  maple  sugar  ;  calabashes,  melons,  fish,  beef  and 
oranges. 

Prices  are  about  as  follows  :  Panoche,  4  to  7  cents  per  pound  ; 
calabashes,  1  to  4  cents  each  ;  oranges,  $1  per  100  to  15  cents  a 
dozen  ;  melons  10  to  25  cents  ;  fish,  4  to  8  cents  per  pound  ;  beef 
steers,  $12  to  $20  each.  There  are  some  islands  in  Ohuira  Bay 
where  thousands  of  ducks  congregate  and  lay  their  eggs  and  hatch 
and  rear  their  young.  Our  colonists  gather  the  eggs  in  cracker 
boxes.  Some  days  they  bring  in  a  110  dozen. 

EXCELLENT  FISH. 

The  bays  and  esteros  are  full  of  excellent  fish,  but  our  colonists 
have  as  yet  no  very  effective  way  of  catching  them.  A  few  men 
have  gone  out  in  boats  with  a  torch,  spear  and  pitchfork,  and 
taken  thirty  to  forty  pounds  of  fine  fish  in  an  evening.  A  seine 
has  been  ordered  ;  when  it  arrives  our  colonists  can  subsist  on  fish 
if  they  desire. 

In  April  and  May  turtles  come  upon  the  shores  of  Topolo- 
bampo  Bay  in  droves,  figuratively  speaking,  and  deposit  tkeir 
eggs  in  the  sand.  They  are  easily  captured  on  moonlight  nights 
by  simply  turning  them  over  on  their  backs.  The  number  of  this 
delicious  variety  of  mammoth  Crustacea  that  a  courageous  and 
competent  party  of  turtle-hunters  may  secure  is  only  limited  by  their 
endurance  and  skill  in  turtle  turning. 

As  an  illustration  of  some  of  the  methods  of  agriculture  as 
carried  on  in  Mexico  we  will  mention  as  an  example  the  cultivation 
of  sugar  cane.  Trenches  four  feet  apart,  two  feet  wide  and  two  * 
feet  deep  are  dug  across  the  field.  The  seed  is  planted  in  three 
rows,  one  in  the  centre  and  one  on  each  side,  twelve  to  fifteen 
inches  apart,  in  quincunx  order,  and  no  more  attention  given  it 
until  it  is  ripe,  when  it  is  cut  and  the  leaves  stripped  from  the  stock 
and  thrown  into  the  ditch,  and  when  thoroughly  dried  they  are 
burned,  which  sometimes  makes  a  very  hot  fire.  The  ashes  and 
roots  are  then  covered  with  fresh  soil. 

A  NEW  CROP. 

A  new  crop  more  hardy  than  the  previous  sprouts  up  from  the 
roots  and  is  treated  in  manner  identical  with  the  parent 
crop.  This  process  is  repeated  with  each  ensuing  crop  until  the 
ditch  has  been  filled  full  and  level  with  the  rest  of  the  field  ;  then 
a  new  ditch  is  dug  midway  between  the  original  ditches,  and  a 
new  crop  planted,  cultivated  and  harvested  in  the  regular  order  of 
the  preceding  eight  or  ten  crops  from  one  planting.  This  process 
is  very  successful  without  irrigation.  What  improved  methods 
may  be  inaugurated  with  a  bountiful  supply  of  water  by  irrigation 
it  is  hard  to  tell. 

S.  T.  PEET. 


31 

SENDING  BACK  GREETINGS. 

TOPOLOBAMPO,  Sinaloa,  Mexico,  Dec.  17, 
To  OUT  Friends  :  In  accordance  with  a  request  of  the  members 
of  the  Pacific  Colony,  made  at  a  meeting  on  the  shore  of  Topolo- 
"barnpo  Bay,  December  15,  1886,  a  statement  of  the  facts  concern- 
ing the  climate  and  natural  resources  of  the  country  is  hereby 
presented. 

Upon  entering  the  inner  harbor  we  find  it  unsurpassed  in  the 
depth  of  its  channel  and  its  protection  for  shipping  by  any  harbor 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  having  a  depth  of  at  least  four  fathoms, 
almost  surrounded  by  high  hills,  and  of  sufficient  area  for  all  ship- 
ping that  an  extensive  commerce  requires. 

Immediately  on  the  north  and  east  extends  a  vast  and  fertile 
plain  comprising  the  valley  of  the  Fuerte  river,  having  a  deep, 
dark  and  rich  soil,  with  a  few  scattering  hills  rising  abruptly  from 
the  plains.  Valley  and  hills  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  low 
timber,  affording  excellent  material  for  fuel  and  charcoal,  together 
with  a  thick  growth  of  underbrush  and  cactus.  This  soil  is 
capable  of  producing  everything  in  semi-tropical  and  temperate 
regions.  The  air  is  pure,  winds  moderate  and  regular,  and  the 
temperature  at  this  season  ranges  between  56  and  85  degrees.  The 
city  is  laid  out  so  as  to  front  the  bay  east  of  the  railroad  terminus. 

WELL-DISPOSED  MEXICANS. 

We  find  the  Mexican  people  kind  and  well-disposed  towards 
us,  and  the  Indians  peaceable  and  industrious.  Upon  the  whole, 
we  find  the  published  letters  and  reports  of  those  who  have  been 
here  before  us  true  in  all  essentials.  Some  of  the  members  of  the 
Pacific  Colony  now  here  have  explored  the  valley  above  mentioned, 
and  know  the  facts  above  stated,  the  others  hereby  affirm  the  state- 
ments herein  made,  so  far  as  their  knowledge  extends. 

We  have  all  had  the  opportunity  of  making  the  acquaintance 
of  Albert  K.  Owens,  who  has  been  with  us  for  a  week,  and  find  in 
him  a  man  of  indomitable  spirit,  of  profound  and  comprehensive 
mind,  of  undoubted  integrity,  of  great  executive  ability  and  deep 
earnestness  and  determination  in  the  work  in  which  he  is  engaged, 
such  a  man  as  we  see  but  once  in  a  generation  of  time,  and  even 
then  standing  alone  amidst  the  great  army  of  selfish  beings  by 
which  he  is  surrounded. 

We  hereby  express  our  unbounded  confidence  in  him  as  a 
leader  in  the  grand  enterprise  in  which  we  are  all  engaged. 

In  attestation  of  the  statements  here  made  we  subscribe  our 
names. 

ALVIN  J.  WILBER,  E.  J.  SHELLHOUSE, 

BENJAMIN  WOODRUFF,      H.  W.  YOUMANS, 
THOMAS  YOUNG,  W.  MATSON, 

ANNA  J.  NOKRIS,  W.  A.  MCEJENZIE, 

Committee, 
And  by  eighty  (80)  other  Colonists. 


52 

A  PACIFIC  CITY, 


AN  ELYSIUM  FOR  THE  LABORING  CLASSES  ON  THE 
GULF  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


(From  the  New  York  Herald,  Dec.  27,  1886.) 

Mr.  John  "W.  Lovell,  the  publisher,  delivered  last  night  an 
address  on  "A  Co-operative  City — How  to  Build  and  How  to 
Govern  It. "  It  was  the  feature  of  one  of  the  semi-religious  meet- 
ings presided  over  by  Rev.  Charles  P.  McCarthy  at  No.  52  Union 
Square.  Mr.  Lovell  announced,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  Utopia 
of  Moore,  the  cherished  dream  of  all  ages,  was  to  all  appearances 
about  to  be  realized,  and  that  on  the  Gulf  of  California  a  city  and 
State  would  soon  appear  where  there  would  be  no  rich  and  no 
poor,  a  city  and  State  where  co-operation  would  prevail  instead  of 
isolation  !  All  arrangements  had,  he  said,  been  made  ;  the  land 
had  been  purchased,  a  company  had  been  formed,  and  pioneers 
had  already  gone  to  begin  the  work.  The  city  is  to  have  a  harbor 
equal  to  that  of  New  York  ;  it  is  to  be  the  terminus  of  a  projected 
transcontinental  railway  ;  in  short,  its  situation  is  a  guarantee  of 
its  prosperity. 

Mr.  Lovell  then  went  on  to  tell  how  the  city  is  to  be  built  and 
how  governed.  He  said  that  no  man  is  to  own  anything  more 
than  a  home,  and  all  business  of  every  sort  is  to  be  owned  and 
managed  by  the  State  at  large,  as  represented  by  elected  officers. 
The  people  are  to  live  in  social  palaces,  where  all  the  domestic 
labor  is  employed  in  common  and  paid  for  by  ratio.  The  place  is 
to  be  called  Pacific  City,  and  no  one  can  live  in  it  unless  he  owns 
a  fiat  or  house  which  is  equivalent  to  a  share  of  the  stock  of  the 
city  rtnd  entitles  the  holder  to  a  vote.  There  are  to  be  no  doctors 
but  S)  \laried  ones  ;  no  lawyers  whatever  ;  but  one  newspaper,  which 
is  obliged  to  publish  everything  anybody  writes  and  signs  his  name 
to,  except  advertisements,  which  nobody  wants,  as  there  is  no 
business  to  advertise. 

There  is  to  be  absolute  equality,  except  that  a  worker  is  to  out- 
rank an  idler.  There  is  to  be  no  gold  or  silver  coinage,  nor  any 
church.  The  streets  are  to  have  from  six  to  eight  rows  of  trees. 
The  houses  are  all  to  have  gardens  and  courts  and  fountains. 
Early  marriages  are  to  be  encouraged,' and  since  there  will  be  no 
wealth  to  force  their  inclinations  bachelors  or  maidens  will  use 
their  own  sweet  will ;  everything  will  be  just  right,  and  the  angels 
will  all  want  to  abandon  their  celestial  residences  and  become 
citizens  of  Pacific  City. 


33 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  PARADISE. 


THE  GREATEST  SOCIAL  MOVEMENT  OF  THE  AGES- 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  HAPPY  HUMAN  LIVES  SOLVED 

BY    THE   PACIFIC    COLONY— CO-OPERATION 

PLANNED  ON  A  SCIENTIFIC  BASIS. 


BY  E.  D.  BABBITT,  M.  D. 


(From  tne  Spiritual  Offering,  November  20,  1886.) 

By  request  of  our  friend,  E.  D.  Babbitt,  20  University  Place,  New  York, 
we  Insert  this  article.  Our  brother  is  very  enthusiastic  and  warmly  enlisted 
in  the  success  of  the  colony,  and  we  hope  his  and  their  expectations  may 
be  fuUy  realized.  He  submitted  his  article  for  corrections,  if  any  were 
needed,  to  Mr.  John  W .  Lovell,  treasurer  of  the  Pacific  Colony,  and  received 
the  following  letter:  "My  Dear  Dr.  Babbitt.  I  enclose  your  admirable 
article.  I  cannot  suggest  any  changes.  JOHN  W.  LOVKLL."  — [EDITOK 
OFFERING. 

I  have  not  been  so  thrilled  for  years  as  I  have  in  getting  full 
accounts  of  the  great  colony  which  is  forming  in  our  country  to 
settle  on  the  Pacific  coast,  or  rather  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  at 
Topolobampo  Bay,  in  the  Mexican  State  of  Sinaloa.  It  has  been 
maturing  now  for  several  years  and  already  over  four  thousand 
persons  have  taken  stock  in  the  joint  stock  company,  under  the 
title  of  the  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa.  In  a  pamphlet  called 
"  Social  Solutions,"  the  following  description  of  the  site  is  given: 
"Topolobampo  Bay  in  the  State  of  Sinaloa,  Mexico,  has  been 
selected  as  the  only  place  known  at  present,  as  yet  unsettled,  com- 
bining so  many  natural  advantages  for  a  great  commercial,  manu- 
facturing and  agricultural  commonwealth.  Situated  on  the 
Gulf  of  California  in  latitude  25  degrees,  32  minutes  north,  with 
a  magnificent,  mountain-locked  harbor,  embracing  54  square  miles 
of  water  area,  twelve  and  a  half  miles  being  deep  anchorage,  it 
promises  at  no  distant  day  to  be  the  great  centre  through  which 
the  commerce  of  Asia,  Australia  and  the  Pacific  Islands  with 
Europe  and  this  Continent  will  pass.  It  is  800  miles  nearer  New 
York  ^than  San  Francisco ;  322  miles  nearer  St.  Louis  than  San 
Francisco;  195  miles  nearer  Chicago  than  Chicago  is  to  San  Fran- 
cisco.'' From  New  Orleans  it  is  1,400  miles,  from  Galveston,  Texas, 
it  is  1,100  miles.  If  any  object  that  it  is  in  Mexico,  they  should 
remember  that  it  is  a  sister  republic  modeled  much  after  our  own, 
and  that  the  government  of  Mexico  has  made  some  capital  conces- 
sions to  the  Texas,  Topolobampo  and  Pacific  Railroad  from  which 
the  land  for  the  new  colony  has  been  procured.  I  have  been  sur- 
prised to  learn  how  liberal  and  public-spirited  that  government 
has  been  in  offering  inducements  for  the  establishment  of  rail- 
ways, manufactories,  colonies,  etc.  The  prophecy  is  that  in  the 


34 

first  decade  of  the  coming  century,  Mexico,  Canada  and  toe 
United  States  will  be  unified  into  a  great  and  mighty  government, 
each  State  of  which  shall  be  as  free  to  govern  itself  as  ever,  and 
yet  shall  have  the  advantage  of  the  greatest  aggregation  of  power 
that  this  planet  has  ever  experienced.  A  Mr.  Albert  K.  Owen 
was  chief  engineer  of  the  above-named  Texas,  Topolobampo  and 
Pacific  Railroad  Co.,  and  was  assisted  in  organizing  it  by  Gen. 
Grant,  Gen.  Butler,  Wendell  Phillips,  etc.  Mr.  Owen  is  chair- 
man of  the  new  Pacific  colony,  and  has  developed  what,  without 
doubt,  is  the  most  practical  and  beautiful  system  of  co-operative 
government  ever  given  to  the  world.  His  soul  seems  all  aglow 
for  human  upbuilding,  and  his  ideas  are  given  quite  fully  in  a 
work  of  208  pages  called  "Integral  Co-operation,  with  an  Account 
of  the  proposed  Pacific  Colony  and  the  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa." 
This  work  comprises  five  fine  large  maps  and  charts  of  the  new 
city,  and  is  furnished  postpaid  for  30  cents  by  the  John  W. 
Lovell  Company,  14  Vesey  Street,  New  York. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  give  some  account  of  this  wonderful 
enterprise,  engineered  by  large  advanced  souls  and  developed 
mainly  by  Mr.  Owen.  Every  stockholder  must  take  at  least  one 
share  of  stock  which  is  $10.  This  gives  one  full  membership.  If 
one  is  thus  accepted  and  is  fitted  for  labor  and  other  useful  avo- 
cations, constant  employment  at  fair  wages  is  guaranteed.  Each 
member  is  expected  to  take  one  or  more  lots  at  a  very  small  price, 
and  to  build  him  a  home  thereon,  and  tasty  and  convenient  plans  are 
furnished  him  by  an  architect.  One  is  not  required  to  pay  any- 
thing down  on  his  house,  but  can  turn  a  portion  of  his  wages 
toward  the  same  and  toward  the  furnishing  thereof.  More  than 
that,  he  gets  everything  at  cost  price  and  on  the  most  honest  plan, 
for  under  a  system  of  co-operation  there  is  no  motive  for  cheating. 
In  the  midst  of  a  group  of  houses  will  be  a  smaller  building  for 
kitchen,  laundry,  store-room  etc.,  where  by  means  of  the  best  ap- 
pliances the  more  unpleasant  and  severe  part  of  housekeeping  will 
be  performed  by  persons  adapted  to  it,  and  appointed  by  the 
board  of  directors.  In  this  way  the  drudgery  of  housekeeping 
will  be  avoided.  There  will  also  be  resident  hotels  writh  hollow 
squares  devoted  to  flowers,  lawns,  etc.  In  these  hotels  will  be 
suites  of  rooms  for  different  families,  and  these  suites  are  to  be 
owned  by  those  who  live  in  them.  These  will  be  provided  with  a 
general  kitchen,  laundry,  reading-room,  bath-rooms,  a  dining 
room  for  meals  a  la  carte  or  a  table  d'hote  for  those  who  prefer. 

Nurseries  for  the  little  ones,  even  for  babies,  will  be  provided, 
so  that  one  great  care  will  be  taken  from  the  parents,  thus  enabl- 
ing them  to  get  out  into  the  open  air,  to  take  walks,  rides,  etc. 
This  does  not  hinder  parents  from  taking  their  babies  and  loving 
and  caressing  them  as  much  as  they  please.  When  the  children 
get  a  little  larger  their  little  minds  are  unfolded  and  delighted  by 
object  teaching  and  kindergarten  methods  and  by  companionship 
of  those  of  their  size.  This  is  another  great  care  taken  off  from 
parents,  and  performed  better  than  most  parents  themselves  could 
do  it.  Children  are  happier  to  be  with  those  of  their  own  size 
and  make  less  trouble  than  they  would  if  only  adults  were  around. 
First-class  technical  and  other  schools  are  to  be  established. 


35 

Libraries,  lecture  rooms,  a  theatre  and  many  little  parks  all 
through  the  city  will  be  established.  Each  street  is  to  be  park- 
like  with  various  rows  of  trees,  smooth  sidewalks,  lawns  and  fine 
roadways  for  almost  noiseless  travel.  It  is  hoped  that  the  trouble, 
dirt  and  expense  of  horses  may  to  a  considerable  extent  be  done 
away  with,  and  before  public  conveyances  are  established  it  is 
suggested  that  bicycles  or,  still  better,  tricycles  should  be  used. 
Tricycles  are  already  quite  fashionable,  and  in  England  a  tricycle 
capable  of  carrying  two  or  three  persons  has  been  run  successfully 
by  electricity.  Tricycles  need  no  feeding  or  stable  care. 

Sewage  is  to  be  carried  out  on  a  superior  plan.  The  water  of 
artesian  wells  is  commended  above  all  other  kinds. 

Telephones  from  each  house  will  connect  with  the  commissariat 
and  central  storehouses  where  provisions  and  goods  are  furnished 
at  wholesale  prices  to  all,  and  there  will  be  pneumatic  tubes 
through  which  letters  and  packages  will  be  shot  to  all  parts  of  the 
city. 

When  sickness  takes  place  physicians  and  nurses  are  sent  and 
tender  care  is  taken  of  the  patient  without  expense  to  himself. 
Arrangements  are  also  made,  by  which  the  aged  who  feel  less  able 
to  work  may  be  able  to  rest  or  travel,  and  have  money  granted  to 
them. 

Why  has  not  the  church  world  been  able  to  devise  any  such 
system  of  heavenly  kindness  by  which  people  are  provided  with 
beautiful  homes  and  life  is  made  a  matter  of  joy  and  harmony? 
Our  greatest  blessings  must  come  from  the  liberals  and  reformers, 
but  our  commercial  and  religious  people  generally,  working  under 
a  false  system,  are  almost  forced  into  a  selfish  life. 

The  land  and  home  though  sacred  to  the  owner,  is  never 
allowed  to  go  out  of  the  company's  hands,  but  if  the  owner  wishes 
to  leave  the  company  will  buy  it  back.  This  keeps  all  property 
under  the  co-operative  system,  and  prevents  monopoly. 

To  go  from  an  ordinary  city  into  such  a  place,  would  be  like 
going  from  the  infernal  regions  into  paradise,  for  the  poverty, 
degradation,  lying,  stealing,  drunkenness  and  dreadful  struggles 
for  a  livelihood,  especially  in  large  cities,  is  frightful.  We  call 
this  liberty,  but  it  is  such  liberty  as  a  lot  of  brutes  have 
where  they  are  thrown  together,  in  which  the  stronger  destroy  the 
weaker.  "  How  much  longer,"  says  Mr.  Owen,  "  are  we  to  see  a 
man  with  both  legs  cut  off,  one  hand  gone  and  the  other  paralyzed, 
one  eye  out  and  the  other  useless,  no  teeth  in  one  side  of  his  jaw, 
and  an  artificial  bone  in  the  other,  made  to  start  with '  equal  rights 
before  the  law/  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  against  giants  en- 
trenched by  legal  enactments,  behind  vested  rights  and  guaran- 
teed privileges  ? " 

^  But  this  is  not'  all  of  the  beautiful  benevolence  of  this  co-oper- 
ative system.  Woman  is  to  have  the  same  wages  as  man  for  doing 
the  same  work.  Woman  is  not  so  strong  as  man,  therefore  it  is 
proposed  that  she  work  only  six  hours  a  day  and  man  eight 
hours.  Woman  is  no  longer  to  be  classed  with  idiots  and  babes 
and  jailbirds  by  having  the  right  to  vote  taken  from  her.  Shame 
on  the  manhood  of  our  legislators  who  rob  woman  of  her  right  to 
vote.  Shame  on  the  great  selfish  world  who  are  willing  to  take 


36 

dear,  weak  woman  and  make  her  labor  for  a  half  or  a  third  of 
what  man  gets.  After  all,  the  manhood  is  not  so  bad,  innately,  but 
the  system  prevents  it. 

No  liquor  shops,  gambling  saloons  or  other  perverting  places  are 
to  be  allowed.  No  drunkards  or  paupers  or  criminals  will  be  seen. 
All  will  be  happy  and  there  will  be  no  temptation  to  commit 
crime.  Mons.  Godin,  of  Guise,  France,  has  conducted  his  remark- 
able co-operative  system  for  twenty-six  years  without  having  a 
single  one  of  his  men  committed  into  the  hands  of  the  police,  al- 
though he  has  now  nearly  2,000  hands.  This  remarkable  man  who 
has  proved  the  practicability  of  co-operation  so  admirably  and  es- 
tablished nurseries,  schools,  theatres,  etc.,  for  his  people,  when  only 
a  child,  had  inspirational  views  of  the  great  work  he  was  to  per- 
form as  he  grew  up.  Mr.  Owen  has  copied  his  best  points  and 
made  his  movement  wider  and  grander,  carrying  it  forward  into 
the  sphere  of  statesmanship,  and  I  think  he  must  have  received  in- 
spirational help  in  this  great  work,  whether  he  realized  the  fact  or 
not. 

How  many  expenses  will  be  escaped  by  the  fortunate  members 
of  this  colony.  There  will  be  no  municipal,  county,  school  or  per 
capita  tax  to  annoy  any  one,  no  law}*er's  fees,  and  many  other 
blessings  will  be  enjoyed  without  having  to  exhaust  one's  pocket 
book.  "  In  modern  society,"  says  Mr.  Owen,  "  the  doctor  is  paid 
to  keep  us  sick.  In  Pacific  Colony  the  doctor  should  be  salaried, 
and  his  interests  should  be  to  keep  all  persons  well  and  not  be  per- 
mitted to  try  experiments  upon  feeble  bodies  in  doubtful  cases. "  In 
a  land  of  such  wonderful  sunshine,  I  would  like  to  guarantee  to 
keep  most  people  well  without  any  medicine,  for  I  can  do  it,  even 
here,  if  people  will  let  me  prescribe  instruments  for  collecting  and 
modifying  the  sunlight.  It  is  said  that  yellow  fevers,  malarial 
fevers,  sunstrokes  and  epidemics  have  never  been  known  in  the 
zone  of  continent  embraced  by  the  rivers  Fuerte  and  Sinaloa,  and 
that  poisonous  insects  and  reptiles  are  met  with,  but  cases  are 
unknown  where  they  have  molested  any  person.  People  are  not 
struck  by  lightning  there  which  comes,  I  presume,  from  the  dry- 
ness  of  the  air  by  which  it  becomes  non-conducting.  It  is  a  land 
of  everlasting  spring  and  summer,  neither  so  cold  nor  so  warm  as 
it  is  in  our  Northern  States,  the  temperature  at  noon  in  the  winter 
reaching  as  low  as  55  degrees  F.,  in  the  summer  as  high  as  86  de- 
grees, possibly  a  little  higher  at  times,  although  from  the  purity  of 
the  air  it  does  not  depress  a  person  any  more  than  it  would  if  ten 
degrees  lower  here.  The  productiveness  of  the  soil  when  irrigated 
is  wonderful ;  fine  mining  abounds  near  by,  while  boundless  quan- 
tities of  oysters,  turtles  and  fish  can  be  had.  Within  a  hundred 
miles  of  Pacific  City  on  the  new  railroad,  some  of  the  sublimest 
mountain  scenery  in  the  world  is  to  be  seen. 

There  is  almost  constant  sunshine  for  nine  months  in  the  year,, 
and  what  is  called  the  rainy  season  is  not  very  rainy,  there  being 
generally  a  shower  each  afternoon.  The  climate,  of  course,  is 
much  superior  to  that  of  our  Southern  States,  the  air  being  much 
less  damp  and  changeable.  Flowers  and  fruit  grow  side  by  side 
all  the  year  round,  and  planting  can  be  done  in  any  month  in  sum- 
mer or  winter. 


37 

The  question  may  be  asked — Can  this  generosity  of  the  com- 
pany towards  its  members  be  kept  up  ?  and  what  are  the  resources 
upon  which  it  shall  depend?  In  the  first  place  the  wonderful  re- 
sources, agricultural,  mineral,  commercial,  and  piscatorial,  have 
already  been  spoken  of.  In  the  second  place,  the  land  which  is 
equal  to  that  of  Lower  California,  is  procured  from  twenty  to  fifty 
times  less  than  it  would  cost  there.  Then  when  settled  and  con- 
verted into  a  beautiful  city  it  will  be  sold  at  a  great  advance  to 
those  who  come  afterward.  Fifty  per  cent,  of  this  advance  will 
be  used  for  public  improvements  and  the  other  fifty  per  cent, 
granted  to  the  individual  members  according  to  their  amount  of 
stock.  Third,  by  establishing  manufactories  on  a  fine  scale,  many 
things  can  be  sold  to  the  Mexicans  who  are  deficient  in  machinery 
and  factories.  The  colony  well  managed,  will  naturally  become 
wealthy  in  a  few;  years  and  have  probably  the  most  beautiful  and 
well-regulated  city  as  well  as  the  most  harmonious  and  happy 
people  in  the  world.  At  first,  of  course,  some  hard  work  will  be 
required,  but  the  grand  purpose  to  construct  a  model  system  for 
future  upbuilding  and  for  the  study  of  the  whole  world,  should  be 
the  exceeding  great  and  sufficient  reward.  Practical  men  and 
women  who  can  do  good  work  of  different  kinds— machinists,  car- 
penters, cabinet-makers,  masons,  engineers,  cooks,  laundry 
women,  seamstresses,  tailors,  dressmakers,  barbers,  printers,  house- 
keepers, iron-workers,  plumbers,  teachers,  chemists,  scholars  and 
many  other  trades  and  professions  will  be  needed.  Every  one  ap- 
plying for  membership  should  have  an  enthusiasm  for  the  cause, 
and  should  come  with  a  spirit  of  harmony  that  would  lead  him  or 
her  to  work  kindly  with  all  associates.  Reformers  are  on  the 
:whole  noble  people,  but  they  sometimes  bristle  with  points  which 
might  conveniently  be  pared  off  a  little.  I  think  if  I  were  to  name 
the  new  town  instead  of  calling  it  Pacific  City,  I  would  use  the 
shorter  term  Pacifico,  which  is  a  Latin  word  signifying  /  make 
peace,  I  pacify.  Would  it  not  be  appropriate  for  a  colony  that 
gives  peace  to  so  many  people,  who  have  been  storm-tossed  under 
the  ordinary  money-grabbing  and  selfish  systems  of  the  day? 
Many  very  choice  spirits  will  be  found  in  this  colony.  Old  fogies 
cannot  understand  a  scheme  of  home  life  so  broad  and  grand  and 
they  will  be  left  behind.  Mr.  Jesse  Grant,  son  of  General  Grant, 
I  see  is  a  member.  Mr.  Albert  K.  Owen  the  central  spirit  in  the 
matter,  as  I  have  said,  is  the  chairman.  Mr.  John  W.  Lovell, 
whose  company  are  publishers  of  over  nine  hundred  works,  is  the 
treaurer.  I  have  known  and  dealt  with  this  gentleman  for  many 
years  and  have  ever  found  him  thoroughly  upright,  courteous  and 
business-like.  Unlike  corporations  in  general,  this  one  will  have 
•a  soul  to  it.  It  rejoices  me  to  know  that  a  system  has  been  devel- 
oped which  approaches  so  nearly  to  the  kind  of  life  exemplified  in 
the  ideal  planet,  Celestla,  and  it  is  easy  to  forsee  that  all  commu- 
nities and  all  nations  will  gradually  evolute  into  this  diviner  and 
more  fraternal  order  of  things.  Mere  communism  is  a  system  of 
unity  without  diversity,  of  law  without  individuality  and  liberty, 
and  must  ever  fail  in  the  end  as  it  has  always  been  failing.  The 
Faitkists  located  at  Dona  Ana,  New  Mexico,  commenced  with  fly- 
ing colors  but  are  now  almost  disintegrated.  The  Pacific  colony 


38 

grants  to  its  members  a  spirit  of  liberty,  allowing  them  to  have 
their  own  homes  and  their  own  property,  and  yet  blending  them 
into  the  oneness  of  common  interests  and  organization.  The  im- 
pulse of  liberty  springs  forth  in  mighty  tides  like  the  currents  of 
an  ocean  in  every  great  soul,  and  can  never  be  too  prominent  so  long 
as  it  conforms  to  law. 

I  notice  that  there  is  a  predominance  of  masculine  over  feminine 
names  in  those  who  are  becoming  enrolled  in  the  new  company. 
It  is  always  important  to  keep  as  even  a  balance  of  the  sexes  as 
possible,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  society,  but  on  account  of  the 
kind  of  work  to  be  done.  Let  every  young  woman  that  can  cook, 
sew,  keep  house,  or  do  anything  else,  understand  that  all  labor  will 
have  its  true  dignity  there.  There  is  no  such  thing  allowed  there  as 
the  direct  employing  of  one  person  by  another,  as  this  looks  a  little 
•  too  much  like  master  and  servant  and  tends  to  interfere  with  the  dig- 
nity of  labor.  All  are  masters  and  all  servants,  as  all  are  employed 
by  the  Board  of  Managers,  and  these  managers  are  employed 
directly  or  indirectly  by  the  people  themselves.  Every  man  and 
woman  who  holds  a  single  share  ($10)  in  the  company  has  a  right 
to  cast  a  ballot  for  the  directors, 

No  church  structures  will  have  to  be  built  and  paid  for,  but  in 
fine  lecture  halls  different  religions  can  be  represented.  The  folly 
of  putting  up  magnificent  buildings  to  lie  idle  all  the  week  will  not 
be  committed  there.  The  religion  of  the  founders  of  this  colony 
seems  to  have  struck  in  and  filled  them  full  of  sympathy  for  their 
kind.  They  pray  so  much  by  heart  and  hand  in  their  beneficent 
work,  that  they  do  not  seem  to  have  so  much  time  for  prayers 
which  consist  of  mere  words.  I  suppose  nearly  all  have  heard  of 
the  deacon  who  had  his  hands  clasped  so  tightly  in  prayer  that  he 
could  not  get  them  open  to  reach  out  money  to  the  poor. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  by  which  settlers  going  in  small 
companies  can  be  conveyed  there  from  New  York  for  about  $40. 
including  250  pounds  of  baggage.  It  will,  of  course,  be  less  from 
cities  farther  West. 

Prominent  among  the  editorial  workers  in  this  new  cause  are 
Mrs.  Marie  Howland  and  Mr.  Edward  Rowland.  Mrs.  Rowland 
is  author  of  what  is  called  "  a  charming  romance,"  named  "  Papa's 
Own  Girl."  I  have  read  this  with  enthusiasm.  It  presents  a  grand- 
er view  of  the  happiness  and  dignity  of  which  a  human  life  is  ca- 
pable than  most  people  have  any  conception  of.  It  shows  the  su- 
preme folly  of  the  bogus  aristocracy  of  the  day,  and  presents  a 
wonderful  view  of  a  co-operative  labor  palace,  founded  on  Godin's 
great  achievement  in  France,  exemplifying  the  happy  and  cultured 
state  which  the  laborer  may  attain  to  under  this  higher  co-opera- 
tive system.  The  work  in  paper,  containing  547  pages,  is  sent  post- 
paid for  30  cents,  by  John  W.  Lovell  Company,  14  Vesey  st.,  N.  Y. 

One  advantage  in  going  to  Mexico  to  establish  a  colony  is  that 
they  are  enabled  thereby  to  work  out  a  money  reform  which  could 
not  be  done  here,  and  which  will  be  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  as 
it  gives  them  additional  power  and  resources.  Several  thousand 
societies  with  partially  co-operative  features  are  already  success- 
fully operated  in  Europe. 

For  humanity's  pake  alone  do  I  write  this  long  article,  and  all 
men  and  women  with  souls  in  them  should  help  on  such  a  cause. 


39 

THE  SINALOA  CO-OPERATIVE  SCHEME. 


(From  the  Golden  Gate,  January  15,  188T.) 

As  secretary  of  the  San  Francisco  Club,  "C.  F.  of  S.,"  I  am 
asked  for  information  concerning  the  co-operative  institution  known 
as  the  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa.  Assuming  that  what  is  required 
is  not  a  dissertation  on  Socialism,  but  simply  the  prominent  fea- 
tures of  this  particular  enterprise,  I  will  confine  myself  to  the 
general  facts  and  leading  principles  of  the  Credit  Foncier,  and 
leave  the  reader  to  search  elsewhere  for  information  concerning 
the  philosophy  of  co-operation,  which  every  earnest  seeker  can 
easily  find. 

The  originator  of  the  Sinaloa  movement  is  Albert  K.  Owen, 
of  Chester,  Pa.,  a  civil  engineer  by  profession,  who,  in  1872, 
while  surveying  the  route  for  the  Mexican  Central  Railroad,  had 
his  attention  called  to  the  excellence  of  the  natural  harbor  at 
Topolobampo,  which  is  an  Indian  name,  signifying  hidden  water. 
Situated  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  more  than  a  hundred  miles 
away  from  the  course  of  vessels  passing  along  the  Pacific  Coast, 
it  has  attracted  very  little  attention,  although  it  is  probably  the 
best  harbor  in  Mexico,  and  one  of  the  best  in  the  world.  On  his 
return  to  the  United  States,  Mr.  Owen  projected  a  railroad  to  ex- 
tend from  Topolobampo  to  the  Texas  lines  of  railway,  with  the 
design  of  securing  a  transcontinental  short  line.  He  procured  the 
introduction  in  Congress  of  a  bill-to  provide  for  a  railroad  survey 
which  was  favorably  reported  by  the  House  committees  on  Pacific 
Railroads  of  the  44th  and  45th  Congresses,  but  the  opposition^ 
already  established  companies  prevented  consideration  of  the  bill. 
Failing  in  this  direction,  Mr.  Owen  organized  a  company  in  New 
York  and  Boston,  and  a  charter  was  secured  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  the  Massachusetts  railroad  law,  under  the  cor- 
porate name  of  "  The  Texas,  Topolobampo,  and  Pacific  Railroad 
and  Telegraph  Company,"  and  in  June,  1881 ,  the  Mexican  govern- 
ment conceded  the  right  of  construction  and  granted  a  subsidy  of 
eight  thousand  dollars  per  mile,  amounting  in  all,  for  the  main 
line  and  its  branches,  to  $16,000,000,  besides  a  very  liberal  land 
grant.  It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Mexican  government  has 
withdrawn  its  money  subsidy,  but  if  that  is  a  fact  it  has  not  been 
authoritatively  made  known  to  the  stockholders  of  the  Credit 
Foncier.  The  land  grant  cannot  be  withdrawn,  as  it  is  secured 
by  special  contract  signed  in  July  last  by  the  Secretary  of  Public 
Works  on  behalf  of  the  government.  This  grant  is  made  not  for 
the  construction  of  the  road,  but  for  the  survey  of  the  public 
lands  along  the  proposed  route,  and  for  the  colonization  of  such 
lands.  ^  It  gives  the  railroad  and  telegraph  company  one-third  of 
all  public  lands  surveyed  by  it  within  a  strip  seventy-four  miles 
wide  through  the  States  of  Sonora  and  Sinaloa,  and  thirty-seven 
miles  wide  through  the  States  of  Chihuahua  and  Coahufla.  It 
also  gives  the  right  to  purchase  another  third  of  all  land  so  sur- 
veyed at  the  rate  now  fixed  for  Mexican  public  land. 


40 

Although  the  Credit  Fonder  is  a  distinct  corporation  from  that 
of  the  Railroad  Company,  their  interests  are  so  closely  connected 
that  it  has  been  found  advisable  to  form  a  combination,  which 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  purchase  of  a  controlling  interest  in 
the  railroad  and  construction  companies.  The  former  having,  as 
yet,  expended  only  about  $300,000,  the  arrangement  at  this  stage 
is  possible,  whereas  by  delaying  until  very  large  capital  had  been 
invested,  the  consolidation  would  be  more  difficult.  In  fact  it 
had  to  be  done  by  the  directors  without  waiting  for  the  sanction 
of  the  stockholders,  and  Mr.  Owen  writes  to  Senor  Romero, 
Mexican  Minister  at  Washington :  ' '  The  three  companies  are  united 
by  a  common  interest  to  co-operate  for  the  construction  of  the 
railroad  lines  centering  at  Topolobampo,  and  for  the  colonization 
and  development  of  the  public  lands  along  the  route." 

It  may  surprise  some  people  to  learn  that  on  a  straight  line 
Topolobampo  is  nearer  every  seaport  of  the  Atlantic  Coast,  from 
Portland,  Me. ,  to  Galveston,  Texas,  than  is  San  Diego,  San  Fran- 
cisco or  Portland,  Oregon,  the  respective  termini  of  the  Texas 
Pacific,  Central  and  Southern,  and  the  Northern  Pacific  roads.  By 
air  line  from  New  York,  Topolobampo  is  165  miles  nearer  than 
k  San  Diego,  304  miles  nearer  than  San  Francisco,  and  176  miles 
nearer  than  Portland,  Oregon;  but  by  the  surveyed  route  it  is  558 
miles  nearer  New  York  than  by  the  most  direct  line  from  New 
York  to  San  Francisco. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  do  not  depend  entirely  upon  the 
railroad  lands  for  homes.  The  land  for  the  city  site,  including 
twenty-nine  square  miles  and  a  large  tract  of  adjoining  lands, 
were  purchased  by  the  railroad  company  from  Dr.  Benjamin  R. 
Carman,  of  Mazatlan,  and  Senor  Don  Bias  Ybarra,  and  this  prop- 
erty the  Mexican  government  has  no  claim  to.  Its  ownership  is 
distinctly  acknowledged  in  the  contract  between  the  Mexican 
government  and  the  Railroad  and  Telegraph  Company.  The 
settlement  at  Topolobampo  is  mentioned  in  this  contract  as 
"Pacific  Colony."  Article  15  of  the  contract  is  as  follows: 

Article  15.  As  a  compensation,  for  the  service,  by  the  com- 
pany in  establishing  the  above  referred  to  colonies  the  following 
concessions^re  hereby  granted : 

1.  Introduction,  free  of  duties,  for  a  term  of  ten  years,  of 
machinery  for  all  manufactories,  etc.,  and  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments. 

2.  Exemption  from  all  taxes  (with  the  exception  of    muni- 
cipal imposts);  and  free  exportation  of  all  the  products   of  the 
colonies,  for  the  same  term  of  ten  years. 

8.  Introduction,  free  of  duties — only  once — of  all  personal 
effects  brought  by  the  colonists  at  the  time  of  their  arrival. 

The  remitted  duties  on  provisions,  etc.,  are  not  to  exceed  in 
the  aggregate,  $300  for  each  family  settled,  ($80  for  each  single 
man),  families  being  defined  as  : 

1.  Husband  and  wife,  with  or  without  children. 

2.  Father  or  mother,  with  one  or  more  descendants,  constituted 
under  their  legal  authority. 

3.  Brothers  or  sisters,  one  of  which  shall  be  of  legal  age,  the 
others  being  minors.    It  shall  be  understood  by  the  words  ' '  settled 


41 

family" — a  family  having  built  their  house,  and  having  begun  to 
cultivate  a  tract  of  laud,  or  to  work  in  some  trade  or  industry. 

Additional  articles  provide  that  the  company  and  the  colonists 
shall  be  bound  to  abide,  by  the  requirements  of  the  Law  on 
Foreigners  and  their  Naturalization.  The  colonists  shall  be  con- 
sidered and  held  as  Mexicans.  They  shall  enjoy  all  the  rights, 
.and  shall  have  all  the  obligations  of  Mexicans,  as  provided  by  the 
general  laws  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  and  those  of  her  several 
states,  with  the  exceptions  specified  in  the  Law  on  Colonization 
actually  in  force.  The  company,  as  well  as  the  colonists,  shall 
submit  all  their  differences  and  disputes  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Mexican  courts  of  justice;  but  the  colonists,  among  themselves, 
and  in  all  cases  of  dispute  with  the  company,  and  the  company 
in  all  its  differences  with  the  colonists,  are  at  liberty  to  decide 
them  by  arbitration. 

The  Credit  Foncier  was  originated  by  Mr.  Owen  some  years 
ago,  and  in  1885  a  small  weekly  paper  was  started  at  Hamrnonton, 
New  Jersey,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  a  knowledge  of  the 
.scheme,  This  journal  is  edited  by  Marie  and  Edward  Howland, 
the  former  of  whom  is  the  author  of  "Papa's  Own  Girl,"  and 
the  translator  of  M.  Godin's  socialistic  work,  "Social  Solutions." 
The  name  of  the  paper  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  corporation,  and 
the  principles  put  forth  by  the  editors  as  the  platform  of  the  paper 
convey  as  clear  an  idea  of  the  movement  itself  as  can  be  given  in 
so  few  words.  They  are  as  follows : 

The  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa  presents  a  matured  plan,  with 
details,  for  farm,  city,  factory  and  clearing  house;  and  invites  the 
farmer,  manufacturer,  artisan,  engineer,  architect,  contractor  and 
accountant  to  unite  and  organize  to  build  for  themselves  homes 
in  keeping  with  solidity,  art  and  sanitation.  It  asks  for  evolution 
and  not  for  revolution;  for  interdependence  and  not  for  indepen- 
dence; for  co-operation  and  not  for  competition ;  for  equity  and  not 
for  equality;  for  duty  and  not  for  liberty;  for  employment  and  not 
for  charity;  for  eclecticism  and  not  for  dogma;  for  rationalism 
and  not  for  ritualism;  for  deeds  and  not  for  creeds;  for  works  and 
not  for  words;  for  specific  payments  and  not  for  specie  tokens; 
for  one  law  and  not  for  class  legislation;  for  corporate  management 
and  not  for  political  control;  for  State  responsibility  for  every 
person,  at  all  times  and  in  every  place,  and  not  for  muncipal  irre- 
sponsibility for  any  person,  at  any  time  or  in  any  place;  and  it  de- 
mands that  the  common  interests  of  the  citizen — the  atmosphere, 
land,  water,  light,  power,  exchange,  transportation,  construction, 
sanitation,  education,  entertainment,  insurance,  production,  dis- 
tribution, etc.,— be  "pooled,"  and  that  the  private  life  of  the 
.citizen  be  held  sacred. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company,  although  it  has  been  so  many 
years  in  conception,  was  not  incorporated  until  August,  1886, 
.under  the  incorporation  law  of  Colorado.  It  is  the  design  of  the 
directors  to  carry  on  all  branches  of  industry,  but  probably  the 
most  important,  at  first,  will  be  the  construction  of  the  railroad. 
The  leading  object  of  the  Credit  Foncier  may  be  said  to  be  to  se- 
cure homes  for  its  members  and  employment  for  their  mainten- 
ance. Among  the  principles  set  forth  by  Mr.  Owen  are  th.e 
following : 


42 

"  The  highest  ambition  for  man  and  woman  is  to  have  a  per- 
manent, substantial  and  beautiful  home;  constant,  remunerative 
and  agreeable  employments;  varied  instruction;  approved  facilities 
and  attractive  amusements;  and  the  ability  to  possess  and  enjoy 
should  keep  pace  with  their  cultures  and  desires.  .  .  .  There 
cannot  be  correct  life  separated  from  useful  and  remunerative  em- 
ployment; therefore,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  corporation  to  provide 
occupation  for  every  one  of  its  members,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
members  to  undertake  that  occupation  or  those  employments  which 
he  and  she  are  best  fitted  for.  .  .  .  Every  ruling  should  be 
general  in  its  application;  and  for  a  member  to  ask  for  a  special 
privilege  is  treason  against  the  corporation.  .  .  .  Should  there 
exist  one  member  unemployed  at  any  time  who  is  willing  and  able 
to  work,  such  should  reflect  against  the  directors." 

The  by-laws  provide  that  there  shall  be  ten  executive  depart- 
ments, each  presided  over  by  one  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 
These  directors  are  to  be  paid  one  hundred  dollars  per  month  each 
for  their  services,  a  sum  very  little  greater  than  the  regular  rate 
of  wages,  which,  for  the  present,  has  been  fixed  at  three  dollars 
per  day,  equal  pay  being  awarded  for  equal  service,  without  re- 
gard to  sex. 

Of  course,  it  is  expected  that  the  present  plan  of  operations 
will  be  modified  as  experience  may  direct,  and  it  is  quite  probable 
that  the  various  industries  will  ultimately  be  regulated  by  what  is 
known  as  the  "  Serial  organization  of  labor,"  by  which  is  meant 
the  division  of  laborers  into  groups  and  series  of  groups,  each  series 
being  constituted  of  the  groups  pertaining  to  a  particular  industry 
or  class  of  industries.  For  instance,  the  agricultural  series  may  be 
divided  into  farming,  fruit-raising,  gardening,  etc.  Each  group 
selects  its  chief,  and  the  persons  so  selected  constitute  a  Council  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture.  The  President  of  the  Council  is  the 
general  manager  of  the  department,  and  should  also  be  entitled  to 
voice,  if  not  vote,  in  the  Board  of  Directors.  In  this  way  the  wants 
of  every  part  of  the  colony  are  at  once  known  at  headquarters. 
Of  course,  there  must  be  system  in  co-operative  enterprises,  other- 
wise there  is  misunderstanding  and  ultimate  failure.  The  same 
plan  of  organization  by  groups  is  adapted  to  the  mechanical,  com- 
mercial, educational  and  all  other  departments. 

It  may  be  asked  why  American  co-operators  do  not  select  a 
location  in  their  own  country.  The  answer  is,  nowhere  within 
the  limits  of  the  Union  can  so  large  a  tract  of  unoccupied  land 
be  purchased  for  ten  times  the  cost  of  this,  and  nowhere  else  are 
there  such  natural  facilities,  for  building  up  a  large  industrial  com- 
munity. The  commercial  advantages  of  the  location  are  very 
great,  while  the  climate  and  soil  are  unexcelled.  Yellow  fever, 
malarial  fevers,  sunstrokes  and  epidemics  have  never  been  known 
in  that  section,  and  poisonous  insects  and  reptiles  do  not  abound 
there  as  in  some  other  portions  of  Mexico.  It  is  a  land  of  almost 
perpetual  summer,  the  temperature  near  the  coast  varying  from 
fifty-five  degrees  in  winter  to  eighty-.six  degrees  in  the  warm 
season.  There  are  points  in  the  Interior  where  it  is  warmer  than 
this,  but  in  no  part  of  Siualoa  is  the  temperature  oppressive.  All 
the  fruits  of  the  tropics  and  of  the  temperate  zone  can  be  grown 


•43 

there.  The  rainy  season  commences  in  June  and  lasts  till  Sep- 
tember, the  rain  generally  falling  in  gentle  showers  two  or  three 
days  of  each  week.  There  are  no  high  winds,  excepting  the  gales- 
of  the  autumnal  equinox  at  the  close  of  the  rainy  season. 

There  are  many  other  advantages,  not  the  least  of  which,  in 
my  estimation,  is  non-interference  of  the  government  in  our  local 
affairs.  The  colonists  have  accorded  to  them,  by  Mexico,  the 
right  of  regulating  their  own  domestic  matters  to  an  extent  which 
would  not  be  permitted  in  this  country.  Besides,  I  do  not  think 
the  laboring  people  of  America  owe  this  government  a  very  deep 
debt  of  gratitude.  Nearly  all  legislation  here  is  for  property- 
very  little  for  humanity.  Some  may  say  that  it  is  the  people's  own 
fault,  because  they  make  the  laws.  I  deny  the  assertion ;  they  do 
not  make  the  laws,  though  many  of  them  think  they  do.  Money 
rules  our  Government,  State  and  National;  and  the  people,  who 
in  theory  have  all  the  power,  in  practice  have  very  little.  The 
wage  slave  of  America  is  quite  as  much  at  the  mercy  of  his  em- 
ployer as  is  the  workingman  of  England  ;  and  the  landless,  home- 
less poor  of  this  country  are  in  a  condition  quite  as  pitiable  as  are 
the  oppressed  tenantry  of  Ireland.  But  I  will  not  now  discuss 
this  question.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  condition  of  many  thou- 
sands of  honest,  industrious  workingmen  and  women  in  America 
is  so  hopeless,  that  they  renounce,  with  pleasure,  the  place  of 
their  birth,  and  look  with  longing  to  a  foreign  land  for  the  justice 
they  feel  has  been  denied  them  at  home. 

There  are  now  about  four  hundred  colonists  at  Topolobampo, 
and  many  more  are  anxious  to  go,  but  the  directors  deem  it  best 
to  have  only  able-bodied  men  as  pioneers,  until  shelter  can  be 
provided  for  the  "  angels  of  the  household."  Therefore,  the  immi- 
gration of  women  and  children  is  discouraged,  yet  of  the  twenty 
colonists  who  left  San  Francisco  on  the  steamer  "  Newbern,"  Jan- 
uary 8th,  three  were  women  and  seven  children.  Those  who  go  at 
this  time  do  so  under  disadvantages  that  will  disappear  a  few 
months  hence,  when  the  Company  will  have  a  steamer  of  its  own, 
and  there  will  be  no  necessity,  as  now,  for  each  person  to  take 
three  months'  provisions. 

It  is  not  the  intention  to  live  in  Sinaloa  in  large  co-operative 
houses,  excepting  those  who  prefer  that  method.  The  by-laws 
require  each  colonist  to  own  at  least  one  fully  paid-up  share  of 
stock — $10  per  share — and  it  is  expected  that  one  city  lot  will  be 
taken  for  each  share  of  stock.  But  the  lots  may  be  for  separate 
homesteads  or  for  a  co-operate  domicile,  as  the  colonists  prefer. 
The  corporation  sells  its  railroad  lands  in  Sonora,  Chihuahua  and 
Coahuila  to  actual  settlers,  but  it  does  not  convey  absolute  title  to 
farming  lands  in  Sinaloa,  -or  to  Topolobampo  town  lots.  It  sells 
merely  the  right  of  occupancy,  and  improvements  desired  by  the 
occupant  are  made  either  by  the  company,  for  which  a  small  usage 
is  paid,  or  by  the  colonist,  and  the  latter  has  the  right,  whenever 
he  desires,  to  sell  his  improvements  to  the  company  at  an  appraised 
value. 

The  regular  hours  of  labor  for  the  present,  are  eight  for  males 
and  six  for  females,  but  it  is  not  obligatory  on  any  person  to  work 
the  full  time  unless  he  desires.  Any  one  having  the  means  to 


44 

build  his  own  home  and  live  wholly  or  partly  on  an  income  derived 
from  outside  of  the  colony,  or  from  money  loaned  to  the  Company, 
can  do  so,  yet  drones  are  not  desirable  members,  and  the  loaning 
of  money  to  individuals,  other  than  through  the  corporation  itself, 
is  prohibited,  as  is  also  the  building  of  houses  for  rent,  and  the 
hiring  of  labor.  The  corporation  furnishes  all  labor  required  by 
a  member  which  he  cannot  do  himself. 

Mexican  and  American  money  will  at  first  be  used  for  purposes 
of  foreign  exchange,  but  all  domestic  business  transactions  will  be 
in  labor  notes  issued  by  the  corporation. 

There  are  many  other  details  which  might  be  of  interest,  but 
this  letter  is  already  too  long,  and  inquirers  are  referred  to  the  list 
of  publications  concerning  the  colony,  which  may  be  found  adver- 
tised on  the  last  page  of  Credit  Fancier  of  Sinaloa,  published  at 
Hammonton,  New  Jersey.  It  is  the  intention  soon  to  publish  all 
essential  information  in  a  pamphlet  now  in  course  of  preparation 
by  a  committee  of  the  San  Francisco  Club,  of  which  I  am  Secre- 
tary. The  President  of  the  Club,  and  California  agent  of  the 
Credit  Foncier  Company,  is  Gustave  Faber,  349  Fourth  street. 

Respectfully, 

W.  N.  SLOCUM. 


MEXICAN  COLONIES. 


HOW  THE  GOVERNMENT  TREATS  STRIKERS  IN 
THAT  COUNTRY. 


(From  the  San  Diego  Union.) 

A.  Union  representative  yesterday  called  upon  Mr.  Theophilus 
Masac,  lately  appointed  Inspector  of  Colonies  and  Fisheries  for 
the  Mexican  Government,  and  upon  his  stating  his  business  and 
the  object  of  his  visit,  Mr.  Masac  very  courteously  granted  the 
newspaper  man  an  audience  and  leave  to  "  augur  "  as  much  as  he 
he  wished. 

"  Mr.  Masac,  "  said  the  reporter,  "  I  have  called  to  ask  if  you 
would  be  willing  to  give  the  public  some  little  knowledge  concern- 
ing the  colonies  of  Mexico,  which  information  your  position  and 
your  long  experience  peculiarly  fit  you  to  impart." 

' '  Well,  sir,  since  my  appointment  I  have  been  inspecting 
several  of  the  colonies  of  the  Mexican  Government,  to  which  branch 
of  the  executive  duties  President  Diaz  pays  most  particular  atten- 
tion. He,  himself,  has  traveled  extensively  in  the  United  States,  and 
is  a  great  observer.  He  has  seen  that  foreign  immigration  into  and 
the  investment  of  foreign  capital  in  the  United  States  have  greatly 
advanced  the  position,  among  nations,  of  your  country.  President 
Dia/  wishes  to  be  the  pioneer  in  securing  for  Mexico  the  immigration 


45 

and  the  attention  which  her  wonderfully  rich  soil  (anything  will- 
almost  spring  from  the  ground  without  cultivation)  and  delightful- 
climate  ought  to  secure  for  her.  To  further  this  design  he  has  estab- 
lished at  an  enormous  expense  to  the  Government,  in  different  parts 
of  Mexico  various  colonies,  of  which  the  principal  ones  are  the 
following:  The  colony  of  Manuel  G-onzales,  in  Huatusco,  State  of 
Vera  Cruz;  Porfiorio  Diaz,  Morel os;  Carlos  Pacheco,  Puebla; 
Diez  Gutierrez,  San  Luis  Potosi;  Fernandez  Leal,  Puebla;  Aldana, 
Mexico.  Everyone  of  these  is  established  under  the  immediate  su- 
pervision of  the  Government.  Besides,  seven  new  ones  have  been 
inaugurated  since  I  began  my  tour,  to  give  the  strikers  a  chance  to 
work." 

"The  strikers!"  ejaculated  the  reporter. 

"Yes,. we  have  strikers,  too.  Down  in  Mexico,  not  long  ago, 
the  proprietors  of  some  cotton  mills  and  their  employees  had  trouble 
and  no  adjustment  could  be  arrived  at;  so  President.  Diaz  quietly 
bought  up  a  lot  of  land  and  gave  it  to  the  hard-working  mill 
hands,  and  now  they  are  tilling  the  soil  and  earning  a  good 
competency.  Besides  these  official  colonies,  which  were  inaugur- 
ated and  established  by  the  Government  at  the  expense  of  many 
millions  of  dollars,  the  Government  has  granted  concessions  and 
lands  to  some  private  individuals  and  corporations  (on  condition  of 
their  being  colonized),  the  Government  giving  absolute  and  indisput- 
able title  just  as  soon  as  the  concessionaries  have  earned  the  same. 
The  wisdom  of  this  policy  is  becoming  every  day  more  apparent,  and 
it  will  not  be  long  until  Mexico  takes  front  rank  among  the  coun- 
tries into  which  to  immigrate.  The  liberality  with  which  the  Gov- 
ernment treats  the  new-comers  is  very  noticeable,  never  meddling 
with  their  citizenship,  nor  compelling  them  to  renounce  it,  and 
waiving  imports  on  many  articles  which  they  may  bring  with  them 
into  the  country,  exempting  the  colonists  from  military  service  and 
giving  them  many  other  valuable  privileges  too  numerous  to 
mention. 

'  'Mr.  Masac,"  said  the  reporter,  ' '  you  speak  of  Government  colo- 
nies. Can  a  citizen  get  land  in  these  colonies  in  the  same  manner 
that  public  land  is  secured  in  the  United  States,  and  how  is  it  ob- 
tained in  these  corporation  grants?" 

Mr.  Masac.—"  The  question  of  getting  land  from  any  of  those 
concessionaries  is  a  very  simple  one.  The  party  proposing  to  be- 
come a  colonist  makes  a  contract  with  the  company,  occupies  land 
in  such  quantities  and  on  such  terms  as  may  be  mutually  agreed; 
upon,  and  the  Government  always  respects  such  a  contract,  never 
interfering  with  the  absolute  freedom  of  the  contracting  parties. 
From  that  moment  on  the  colonist  enjoys  numerous  privileges, 
granted  by  the  Federal  law  of  December  15,  1883,  besides  those 
contained  in  the  special  concessions  held  by  the  company  whose 
colonist  he  becomes.  In  case  a  would-be  colonist  wishes  to  become 
a  member  of  any  of  the  colonies  established  by  the  Government 
itself  he  has  to  apply,  in  due  form,  to  the  Secretary  of  Public 
"Works,  General  Carlos  Pacheco,  who,  after  a  thorough  investi- 
gation, assigns  to  the  new  colonist  such  lands  and  in  such  quan- 
tities as  the  Government  may  have  at  its  disposal ;  which,  at  the 
present  time,  is  not  much,  very  little  remaining  untenanted.  The 


46 

majority  of  these  colonists  who  come  into  Mexico  under  the  direct 
auspices  of  the  Government  are  Italians.  The  American  settlers 
prefer,  as  far  as  I  have  noticed,  a  more  independent  way  of  ac- 
quiring lands  ;  I  might  say,  more  after  the  manner  prevailing  in 
the  United  States,  and  that  is  precisely  what  Mexico  wants  and  the 
Government  favors/' 

Reporter. — "  The  Government  then  is  in  favor  of  improvement, 
and  is  progressive.  How  are  the  people,  and  does  the  country,  as 
Americans  say,  '  back  up '  the  administration  in  its  measures  of 
advancement?" 

"I  have  known,"  said  Mr.  Masac,  "the  country  for  twenty- 
three  years,  and  there  has  been  very  little  progress  visible  until 
the  advent  of  railroads  and  the  telegraph, which  brought  the  coun- 
try into  a  direct  and  constant  communication  with  the  outside 
world,  and  made  revolution,  the  former  curse  of  that  glorious  land, 
impossible.  Counting  from  the  first  Presidential  term  of  General 
Diaz,  Mexico  has  advanced  in  the  path  of  civilization  in  a  manner 
which  eclipses  the  history  of  any  nation,  no  matter  how  progres- 
sive. Mexico  has  crowded  into  the  space  of  the  last  decade  the  im- 
provements which  it  has  taken  the  United  States  the  last  hundred 
years  to  accomplish.  The  railroads  have  changed  the  conditions  of 
Mexico  so  completely  that  any  one  who  had  known  the  country 
before  their  era,  would  scarcely  have  thought  it  possible.  In  other 
countries,  depending  for  their  progress  on  rivers,  canals  and  other 
waterways,  the  railroads  would  not  have  played  such  an  important 
part  as  they  did  in  Mexico,  where  they  form  the  main  arteries  of 
commerce,  travel  and  transportation.  This  will  explain  to  you 
how  it  happened  that  small  villages  that  slumbered  for  centuries  in 
a  forgotten  corner  of  the  Republic  have  suddenly  wakened  when 
they  heard  the  locomotive  whistle,  and  developed  into  large  and  pros- 
perous towns  and  cities,  boasting  street  cars,  telephones,  electric 
lights,  and  other  modern  improvements." 


THE  TOPOLOBAMPO  COLONY. 


THE  FATHER  OF  THE  SCHEME  DENYING  PUBLISHED 
REPORTS. 


THE   HARBOR    GOOD   AND    THE   CLIMATE    EXCELLENT— FERTILE 

LAND  WITHIN  REACH,  AND   THE  HARBOR  800  MILES 

NEARER  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST  THAN  SAN 

FRANCISCO-GOOD  WATER. 


(From  the  New  Torlc  Sun,  February  6,  1887.) 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  SUN  : 

Sir :  The  World  and  Times  of  yesterday  contained  a  despatch 
from  San  Francisco  detailing  an  interview  with  Mr.  J.  W.  Nichols, 
said  to  have  just  arrived  from  Topolobampo  in  the  Newbern. 

Mr.  Nichols  was  repeatedly  told  not  to  go  to  Topolobampo 
until  the  pioneers  had  cut  the  road  from  the  bay  to  the  river,  and 


47 

had  reported  upon  the  country,  its  climate  and  resources.  I  told 
him  that  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  upon  our  lands  at  present. 
In  the  face  of  this,  however,  he  borrowed  enough  money  to  buy 
his  ticket,  and,  with  several  others  equally  as  poor  and  just  about 
as  worthless,  every  one  of  whom  acted  against  my  written  and 
positive  orders,  wandered  across  the  continent  into  Sonora  and  to 
Topolobampo.  They  evidently  expected  to  find  there  a  picnic 
ground,  with  nothing  to  do  but  pick  up  the  ripened  fruit  when  it 
fell  and  to  make  themselves  comfortable.  The  one  redeeming 
trait  that  Nichols  has  shown  is  that  he  got  out  of  our  settlement 
as  soon  as  he  found  he  had  to  work  to  pay  for  the  food  he  ate.  I 
hope  to  be  able  to  stop  'others  from  going  to  Sinaloa  who  know 
nothing  of  the  principles  which  underlie  the  movement  now  being 
made  by  the  Credit  Foncier  Company. 

As  to  Nichols's  statements  concerning  the  harbor,  an  elaborate 
chart  of  the  harbor  was  published  by  the  Navy  Department  from 
a  survey  made  in  1874  and  1875  by  Commander  George  Dewey 
and  other  officers  of  the  United  States  ship  Narragansett.  The 
harbor  is  composed  of  two  bays,  the  outer  one  called  Topolo- 
bampo, and  the  inner  Oguira,  -or  San  Carlos.  In  the  journal  of 
Commander  W.  T.  Truxton,  U.  S.  K,  who  surveyed  it  in  1869, 
we  find  this  : 

The  anchorage  outside  is  perfectly  safe,  as  a  ship  could 
always  lie  off  shore  with  a  southeast  wind,  should  it  begin  to  blow. 
Inside  Topolobampo  vessels  are  entirely  protected  from  the  sea, 
while  only  southwest  and  northwest  winds  would  be  felt.  In  San 
Carlos  vessels  would  be  entirely  land-locked.  In  fact,  for  safety 
no  more  secure  anchorage  is  to  be  found  ;  while,  with  the  aid  of 
two  or  three  buoys,  access  to  it  could  be  made  perfectly  simple — 
more  so  than  to  most  of  the  harbors  on  the  coast  of  the  United 
States  south  of  Boston. 

Mr.  George  W.  Simmons,  Boston  merchant,  who  visited  the 
harbor  in  April,  1881,  says  in  his  report  of  the  railway  reconnois- 
eance  : 

I  am  familiar  with  many  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world,  but 
for  natural  beauty  I  know  of  none  that  excel,  and  few  that  equal 
the  Bay  of  Topolobampo.  .  .  .  The  exquisite  beauty  of  the 
harbor,  the  exact  correspondence  of  our  soundings  with  the  chart 
measurements,  the  abundance  of  game,  the  great  charm  of  the 
place,  had  wrought  us  to  such  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm  that  we  spoke 
of  everything  in  superlatives,  and  agreed  that  the  harbor  of  Topo- 
lobampo was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world,  and  I  see  no 
reason  to  modify  in  the  slightest  degree  my  original  opinion. 

Mr.  Simmons  publishes  in  his  report  a  letter  from  a  sea  captain, 
George  Davis,  in  which  is  the  following  reference  to  the  harbor  : 

In  the  month  of  July,  1872,  I  came  from  San  Francisco  in  a 
vessel  of  my  own,  and  by  advice  of  Mr.  David  Turner,  American 
Consul  of  La  Paz,  Lower  California,  I  entered  this  harbor  of  To- 
polobampo. When  I  came  to  the  Farallon  Island ,  a  large  rock,  situ- 
ated about  W.  S.  W.  from  entrance  to  the  port,  I  was  troubled  to 
know  where  the  channel  lay,  as  I  expected  to  find  it  by  the  surf  ; 
but  as  the  sea  was  perfectly  smooth  on  the  bar,  I  took  my  boat  and 


started  out  ahead  to  sound,  and  easily  found  a  good,  wide  channel, 
carrying  from  six  to  seven  fathoms,  until  past  Las  Copas  Island, 
and  from  there  it  deepened  to  fifteen  fathoms,  with  excellent 
holding  ground. 

In  a  recent  communication,  Mr.  Mareno,  Government  en- 
gineer of  the  railway,  says  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  as  follows  : 

I  hereby  state  that  Topolobampb  bar  is  of  movable  sands,  and 
that  at  low  tide  it  has  a  depth,  at  the  most  dangerous  places — that  is 
to  say,  where  sands  accumulate — never  less  than  3|  fathoms.  This 
case  is  very  rare,  and  in  order  that  such  a  thing  may  take  place,  it 
is  necessary  that  a  very  heavy  gale  blows.  The  depth  at  the  bar 
is  generally  from  four  to  six  fathoms. 

*Col.  Von  Motz  says  of  the  harbor  : 

In  arriving  at  Topolobampo  harbor  we  were  magnetized  by  the 
majestic  aspect  of  this  future  depot  of  commerce  ;  the  grandeur 
and  quietness  of  nature  were  impressive.  Being  acquainted  with 
the  depths  of  the  harbor  itself,  we  got  reliable  information  about 
the  bar,  bringing  the  depth  there  at  about  four  to  five  fathoms 
during  four  months  of  the  year,  and  about  seven  to  eight  fathoms 
for  eight  months  of  the  year,  subject  to  local  winds  at  the  coast. 
Rise  and  fall  of  tide  about  five  feet  on  the  average. 

Capt.  N.  Ohlson,  of  the  schooner  Laura,  wrote  from  Guaymas, 
in  December,  1884  : 

In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  will  now  give  you  the  exact 
information  regarding  the  Topolobampo  bar  : 

1.  In  the  middle  entrance  you  have  three  and  a  half  fathoms 
of  water. 

2.  At  the  north  entrance,  five  fathoms. 

3.  On  the  south  side  or  entrance,  you  have  four  fathoms  of 
water  :  all  the  above  measurements  are  at  low  tide. 

The  bar  is  something  like  500  feet  wide.  After  leaving  the  bar, 
on  the  inside  of  the  harbor,  the  channel  deepens  to  twelve  fathoms. 
You  have  six  fathoms  up  to  point  of  landing  in  the  Straits  of 
Joshua. 

You  will,  require  three  buoys  on  the  bar,  so  that  any  vessel  will 
be  safe  at  any  time  with  a  pilot.  If  you  should  require  more  de- 
tailed information,  you  can  call  on  me  at  any  time  and  I  will  be 
ready  at  short  notice. 

Mr.  Nichols  says  he  had  to  wade  a  distance  to  get  ashore.  Had 
he  not  gone  several  miles  out  of  his  way,  he  might  have  stepped 
from  our  stone  pier  into  twelve  feet  of  water.  ^  We  sent  out  7,000 
feet  of  lumber  last  month  to  build  a  wharf,  which  will  be  less  than 
fifty  feet  long  and  have  twenty-five  feet  of  water  at  its  end.  We 
also  sent  out  iron  buoys  to  be  properly  placed  in  the  channel. 

As  to  Mchols'  statements  as  to  climate  and  fertility,  let  Wm.  K. 
Rogers,  late  of  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Washington,  speak. 
Writing  from  Topolobampo,  Jan.  13,  1884,  he  says  : 

I  am  in  my  third  week  of  my  stay  in  camp  here.  I  wish  I  could 
make  the  stay  as  many  months  as  it  will  be  weeks— as  many  years, 
indeed.  The  climate  at  this  season  of  the  year  is  incomparable. 
The  sea  air  and  the  sea  bathing — where  else  is  thero  anything  of 


the  kind  equal  ?  And  where  is  there  such  another  city  site  ?  The 
aUr.ietions  I  und  in  the  splendid  harbor  and  its  surroundings 
would  detain  me  a  long  lime  if  I  had  it  to  spare.  There  is  a  com- 
bination of  natural  advantages  here  for  the  site  of  a  seaport  city, 
such  as  one  would  look  for  a  long  time  to  lind  equalled  elsewhere — 
deep  waier,  the  greatest  abundance  of  it ;  bold  shores,  with  rock 
frontage  for  wharves,  and  the  channels,  right  alongside  ;  level  lands 
all  around  for  convenient  improvement,  broad  and  deep  esteros  ex- 
tending through  them,  with  firm  solid  banks  ;  not  a  foot  of  marsh 
land  anywhere.  These  esteros,  leading  from  the  deep  water  of  the 
inner  nnd  outer  bays,  far  exceed  my  anticipation  in  the  addition 
they  make  to  the  anchorage  of  the  safest  kind  at  the  harbor,  and 
the  extent  of  wharfage  their  improvement  will  add.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  overestimate  their  value 

And  here  are  three  paragraphs  of  a  letter  by  Noble  E.  Dawson, 
;:fivr  a  visit  to  Sinaloa.  Mr.  Dawsou  was  private  secretary  to  Gen. 
Grain  : 

As  you  are  doubtless  aware,  the  dry  season,  in  its  effects  upon 
the  agricultural  and  forest  growths  of  that  country,  corresponds  in 
a  measure  with  our  Northern  winter.  My  visit  to  Topolobampo  oc- 
curred in  the  dead  of  that  season  (May,  1883),  and  I  could  not  but 
expect  the  harbor  and  its  surroundings  to  present  a  somewhat  bleak 
and  bare  appearance.  In  short,  I  expected  little  in  the  way  of 
scenic  beauty, 'and  was  consequently  very  agreeably  surprised  when 
our  Indian  canoe  shot  from  the  mouth  of  the  ester p,  upon  whose 
Clear  waters  we  had  embarked,  and  presented  suddenly  to  our 
view  the  whole  outer  bay.  The  sunset  scene  of  that  day  I  shall 
never  forget,  and  will  not  attempt  to  describe.  Its  beauty  could 
have  been  surpassed  only  by  that  of  the  following  sunrise,  which 
found  us  entering  the  Straits  of  Joshua,  a  brisk  pull  through  which 
brought  us  upon  the  inner  bay.  With  the  added  embellishment  of 
abundant  verdure,  nothing  could  be  wanting  in  point  of  attractive- 
ness. What  is  of  vastly  more  importance  to  the  commercial  world, 
however,  we  had  here  all  the  natural  conditions  and  requisites  of  a 
first-class  harbor.  I  base  this  opinion  not  only  on  personal  exami- 
nation, but  also  upon  the  results  of  diligent  inquiry  among  seamen 
who  have  personal  knowledge  of  its  capacity,  depth,  acces- 
sibility, &c. 

We  found  oysters  of  excellent  quality  in  the  outer  bay,  and 
abundance  of  turtles,  fish,  and  sea  fowl  in  both.  The  water  is 
very  clear,  and  fish  can  be  seen  swimming  about  at  considerable 
depths. 

I  will  not  tire  you  with  a  detailed  description  of  the  magnificent 
Fuerto  Valley,  or  with  speculations  as  to  its  immense  agricultural 
possibilities.  I  have  visited  the  valley  of  Mexico,  ihe  regions 
watered  by  the  lower  Rio  Grande,  and  other  portions  of  the  repub 
lie,  and,  with  such  opportunities  for  forming  an  opinion,  I  freely 
express  the  view  that  Sinaloa  is  the  natural,  though  as  yet  unde- 
veloped, garden  State  of  the  republic,  while  the  Fuerto  Valley  is 
the  garden  spoi  of  Sinaloa. 

Let  me  add,  that  on  Dec.  18,  just  as  I  was  leaving  the  camp,  ] 
was  given  a  report,  from  which  flic  following  extracts  are  taken 


50 

TOPOLOBAMPO,  SINALOA,  MEXICO,  Dec.  17,  1886. 

To  OUR  FRIENDS  :  In  accordance  with  a  request  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Pacific  Colony,  made  at  a  meeting  on  the  shore  of  To- 
polobampo  Bay  Dec.  15,  1886,  a  statement  of  the  facts  concerning 
the  climate  and  natural  resources  of  the  country  is  hereby  pre- 
sented. 

Upon  entering  the  inner  harbor  we  find  it  unsurpassed  in  the 
depth  of  its  channel  and  its  protection  for  shipping,  by  any  harbor 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  having  a  depth  of  at  least  four  fathoms,  almost 
surrounded  by  high  hills  and  of  sufficient  area  for  all  shipping  that 
an  extensive  commerce  requires. 

Immediately  on  the  north  and  east  extends  a  vast  and  fertile 
plain  comprising  the  valley  of  the  Fuerte  River,  having  a  deep, 
dark,  and  rich  soil,  with  few  scattering  hills  rising  abruptly  from 
the  plains.  Valley  and  hills  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  low 
timber,  affording  excellent  material  for  fuel  and  charcoal,  together 
with  a  thick  growth  of  underbrush  and  cactus.  This  soil  is  capa- 
ble of  producing  everything  in  semi-tropical  and  temperate  regions. 
The  air  is  pure,  winds  moderate  and  regular,  and  the  tempera- 
ture at  this  season  ranges  between  56°  and  85°. 

This  report  was  signed  by  eighty-six  adult  colonists,  all  at  that 
time  within  the  camp. 

Mr.  Nichols  charges  us  with  being  "  money-making  Socialists." 
I  am  a  Socialist,  and  I  advocate  "a  nearer,  precise,  orderly,  and 
harmonious  arrangement  of  social  relations  of  mankind  than  that 
which  has  hitherto  prevailed,"  but  I  am  not  an  Anarchist,  or  one 
who  advocates  a  government  without  a  head  and  withoilt  by-laws 
for  public  guidance,  I  trust  that  THE  SUN'S  readers  will  discrimi- 
nate between  the  two.  I  have  been  trying  during  fourteen  years  to 
give  New  York  city  an  outlet  to  Topolobampo  Bay,  800  miles 
shorter  by  rail  than  she  now  lias  by  rail  to  San  Francisco,  and  in 
that  time  I  have  put  all  the  means  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  in  the 
project,  connected  with  this  enterprise,  and  if  I  have  stolen  $600,000 
its  good  effects  will  soon  be  seen.  I  never  sold  a  piece  of  real  estate 
in  my  life,  and  was  never  associated  with  any  speculative  enter- 
prise. My  home  is  at  Chester,  Delaware  county,  Pa.,  and  from  the 
yard  of  the  house  in  which  I  now  live,  I  can  throw  a  stone  into  the 
window  of  the  room  in  which  I  was  born.  There  is  the  place  to 
find  out  the  shortcomings  of  the  writer  and  the  character  of  his 
father  before  him.  I  have  kept  my  estates  in  Sinaloa  free  from 
encumbrances,  thai  I  might  associate  them  with  the  properties  of 
others  to  build  up  a  city  which  will  secure  a  safe  and  comfortable 
home  for  all  who  may  wish  to  join  our  company,  free  from  taxes, 
and  surrounded  with  the  conditions  of  honorable,  progressive, 
peaceful,  intellectual  life.  My  purpose  in  the  present  existence  is 
not  to  make  money,  but  to  secure  the  prompt  and  equitable  ex- 
change for  the  services  which  I  have  to  offer  for  those  of  others  which 
I  may  need.  A  plan  which  will  do  this  for  me  will  be  a  great  boon 
to  others  ;  and  my  determination  is  to  associate  persons  who  will 
utilize  the  great  harbor  of  Topolobampo,  and  make  it  a  benefit  to 
the  commerce  of  North  America. 

There  are  several  Micawbers  at  Topolobampo  who  may  turn  up 


at  any  time,  the  sooner  the  better,  and  we  have  no  idea  of  getting 
well  started  without  meeting  many  difficulties  ;  but  we  have  gone 
to  stay,  and  will  abide  our  time.  There  are  about  500  persons  there 
now,  at  least  300  more  than  there  should  be  for  the  limited  supplies 
and  the  amount  of  work  we  can  do  under  the  pressure  of  circum- 
stances, over  which  we  have  no  control;  but  we  have  stopped  all 
others  from  going  to  Sinaloa,  at  least  until  I  return  from  Topolo- 
bampo  in  April,  and  this  will  give  us  time  to  breathe  and  to  get 
our  people  into  better  shape  along  the  thirty-five  miles  of  road  we 
are  now  preparing  for  ties,  and  upon  our  farms  and  in  our 
fisheries. 

We  have  under  our  control,  and  partly  paid  for,  about  19,000 
a<"Tes  of  building  lands  on  the  harbor  of  Topolobampo,  33,500  acres 
of  farming  lands  midway  between  the  harbor  and  the  Puerte  River, 
15,000  acres,  a  site  for  ft  town  on  the  Fuerte  River,  and  a  farm  of 
304  acres  close  to  the  last  site,  irrigated,  and  with  crops  of  our  own 
planting  now  growing.  Certainly,  those  "  reformers"  who  believe 
that  it  is  only  necessary  to  own  land  to  be  happy,  should  say  that 
we  are  well  fixed. 

The  Credit  Foncier  Company  is  incorporated  to  advance  re- 
forms deeper  than  the  land  question,  and  more  important  than  the 
money  problem.  It  puts  every  member  of  its  society  into  his  or  her 
own  home.  It  employs,  secures,  insures,  teaches,  amuses,  and 
assists  every  member,  and  yet  individuality  is  maintained,  and  di- 
rect taxation  has  no  existence.  Respectfully, 

A.  K.  OWEN, 

President  of  the  Mexican  Construction  Co. 
32  Nassau  St.,  New  York,  Feb.  4,  1887. 


SINALOAN  HOSPITALITY. 

Private  Correspondence  of  the  Governor  of  Sinaloa. 

CULIACAN,  Dec.  20,  1886. 
MB.  ALBERT  K.  OWEN,  Guaymas: 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  been  favored  by  your  kind  letter,  dated  in 
Topolobampo,  the  18th  inst.,  which  inclosed  another  addressed 
to  me  by  the  Mexican  minister  in  Washington,  Mr.  Matias  Romero. 

I  truly  regret  not  having  seen  you  and  Mr.  Grant  during  the 
day  I  sojourned  at  that  port  (Guaymas),  for  I  would  have  had  great 
pleasure  in  offering  my  services  in  person  ;  but  as  this  was  im- 
possible, on  account  of  the  rapidity  of  your  trip,  it  is  vory  gratify- 
ing for  me.  to-day,  to  assure  you'  that  you  may  consider  my  true 


friendship  and  command  me  in  everything  in  which  you  believe 
I  can  be  useful  to  you. 

In  reference  to  the  Topolobampo  colonists,  they  will  have  fron; 
the  Government  all  the  necessary  guarantees  and  the  protection 
which  I  will  be  able  to  extend  to  them,  for  it  has  always  been 
the  tendency  of  this  Government  to  favor  the  immigrants  that 
come  in  search  of  work,  and  to  give  them  every  kind  of  security 
for  their  establishment  and  contribution  toward  the  general 
progress  of  the  country. 

I  intended  1o  make  a  visit  to  the  new  colony,  but  considering 
that  you  and  Mr.  Grant  would  be  absent  from  there  a  few  months, 
T  resolved  to  make  the  trip  when  }TOU  will  be  back  from  the  United 
States. 

With  my  sincerest  wishes  for  your  personal  happiness  and  the 
jost  success  in  your  business,  I  place  myself  at  your  orders  as  a 
true  friend.  FRANCISCO  CANEDO. 


A  MILITARY  ESCORT  FOR  OUR  COLONISTS. 

Private   Correspondence  of  the   Gommander-in- Chief  of  tfie  First 
Military  Zone. 


GUAYMAS,  Dec.  26,  1886. 
MR.  ALBERT  K.  OWEN: 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  the  pleasure  of  answering  your  favor  of  the 
24th  inst.,  arid  stating  that,  according  to  your  wishes,  I  will  furnish 
the  necessary  guard  to  the  colonists  you  refer  to,  so  that  they  tind 
no  obstacles  in  their  way  to  Buena  Vista. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ANGEL  MAKTINEZ. 


r  * 


The  Credit  Fonder  Series  of  Publications. 


The  first  five   publications  are  devoted   exclusively   to  expla- 
nations of  The  Credit  Fonder  Company. 


To  bo  had  from  M.  &  E.  Howland,  Hammonton,  Atlantic 
County,  New  Jersey,  and  from  The  Credit  Foncier  Company, 
Koom,  708,  32  Nassau  Street,  New  York  City. 

PRICES  INCLUDE    POSTAGE. 

Integral  Co-operiitlon.    By  A  K.Owen. $0.30 

The  New  Departure.    By  Wm.  H.  Mnller 10 

A   Co-operative   City   and    The    Credit   Foncier    of 

Sinai oa.     By  John  W.  Lovell .10   j 

"The  Credit  Foncier  of  Sinaloa,"    A  Weekly  Paper  (8 
page  octavo).  By  Marie  and  Edward  Howland.    3  months,  25c., 

6  months,  5Oc.,  12  months l.OO   j 

Extracts    from    Newspapers,  explanatory    of    the 

Credit  Foncier  Company.    Compiled  by  A.  K.  Owen —         .10  j 

The  North  Anieri   an  Phalanx.    By  Charles  Sears 1()  | 

The  Military,  Postal  and  Commercial  Highways. 

By  A.K.Owen 25   ! 

The  Texcoco-Hnehuetoca  Canal.    By  A.  K.  Owen 25 

Social  Solutions.    Edited  by  Edward  Howland.    12  parts,  each 

10c.,  or  the  12  for 1.00 

Social  Solutions.    By  M.  Godin.    Translated  by  Marie  How- 
land.    Cloth,  Gilt  ...       1.5O 

Papa's  Own  Girl.    By  Marie  Howland 3O 

The  American  and  Ulexicaii    Paciflc    Railivay.    By 

Alexander  D.  Anderson .25 


